Applications have opened for the eighth and final round of small-scale DAB radio multiplex licences, covering 40 areas across England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales.
Each Ofcom-licensed small-scale multiplex allows grass-roots community services, specialist music stations, and services aimed at minority groups and other under-served audiences to take to the digital airwaves.
So far, 75 multiplexes have launched broadcasting to listeners across all four nations of the UK. In total, the small-scale DAB programme will enable the launch of over 100 multiplexes.
Even more listeners will soon be able to tune in to new digital local radio stations, as Ofcom today invites multiplex applications for the following areas:
- Aberystwyth
- Andover
- Armagh
- Ballymena
- Barnsley
- Barnstaple & Bideford
- Brecon
- Burton-on-Trent & Lichfield
- Bury St Edmunds, Thetford & Mildenhall
- Cheltenham & Tewkesbury
- Chesterfield
- Chippenham & Malmesbury
- Coleraine
- Cookstown & Dungannon
- East Cornwall
- East Edinburgh & South Forth coast
- Falmouth, Penzance & Redruth
- Gairloch
- Girvan & Cumnock
- Grantham & Sleaford
- Grimsby
- Kilmarnock
- Leamington Spa & Stratford-upon-Avon
- Mansfield & Worksop
- Monmouth
- Newbury
- Newquay, St Austell & Truro
- North Powys
- Omagh
- Perth
- Peterlee
- Pitlochry & Aberfeldy
- Scunthorpe
- Skye & Lochalsh
- South Hams
- South Powys
- Stroud
- Telford & Shrewsbury
- Tiverton
- Ullapool
We are also re-advertising licences to serve the following areas:
- Berwickshire & Roxburgh
- Chester
- Derby
- Dundee & North East Fife
- Guildford & Woking
- Lincoln
- Kintyre, Islay & Jura
- South West Fife
- South West Sussex
- Weymouth & Dorchester
The closing-date for applications is 5pm on 10 December 2025.
Ofcom is also today inviting applications from potential programme service providers who would like to broadcast a Community Digital Sound Programme (C-DSP) service on a small-scale radio multiplex service.