It won’t be HD Radio, DRM, or DAB+: Brazil’s digital radio won’t come through any of these alternatives

Well, to add to that: none of these systems will be Brazil’s alternative—and they likely won’t be the alternative for several other countries either. The full explanation is lengthy and I will probably only be able to present it in April 2026, but it is something that removes any of the three current leading digital radio systems from the range of viable choices as a local standard, and it also raises doubts that other countries that have not yet moved forward in this process will end up choosing one of them.

And even in countries where the process has already advanced significantly, there is at least the possibility of a reassessment in favor of this new digital system. There are compelling economic reasons that would make it extremely competitive, along with surprisingly short deployment timelines. The resulting reduction in implementation costs ultimately positions it as a disruptive digital radio system when compared to the others, with tangible political and economic impacts.