Virgin Offers Digital Radio To Mobiles

Virgin Radio has launched what it claims is the world’s first 3G radio player, allowing listeners to tune into the station, as well as digital spin off stations, through their handset wherever they are.

The venture, undertaken by Virgin in collaboration with software specialist Sydus, operates in much the same way as internet radio, but rather than streaming the radio content to a PC, the listener’s handset is used to access data with a specially designed application, available from Virgin’s WAP site: http://wap.virginradio.co.uk/.

The software allows Virgin Radio to be received in digital format, providing a stereo feed of the main station, along with Virgin’s two digital stations, Virgin Radio Classic Rock and Virgin Radio Groove.

The system requires either a 3G phone or a GPRS equipped handset, although users whose phone tariff does not provide unlimited free data access could incur high costs, with the application receiving 7.2 megabytes of data every hour.

Radio listening through mobile phones is growing in popularity, as more handsets come equipped with built in FM receivers. The largest demographic listening through mobiles are adults aged between 15 and 24, with 1.2 million using their handset to tune in between October and December 2004, according to RAJAR.

Meanwhile, internet radio has gone from strength to strength, with 25.8% of adults claiming to have listened online in the same period, according to RAJAR. The figure represents an increase of 2.7% points year on year, and, provides evidence that listeners are exploring ever more varied way of listening to their favourite stations.

RAJAR also reports that 29.7% of adults now listen to digital radio through their TV, with the proliferation of Freeview set-top boxes undoubtedly helping the growth (see Christmas Shoppers Push Freeview Into Five Million Homes).

Virgin Radio: 020 7434 1215 www.virginradio.co.uk

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