Wainwright Instruments launches precision DRM filters for 5G coexistence

The transition to digital terrestrial radio is colliding with the rapid expansion of 5G and LTE infrastructure, creating a noise floor that threatens signal integrity for broadcasters and monitoring stations. By providing high-selectivity hardware for frequencies above 30 MHz, Wainwright is addressing a specific bottleneck in the coexistence of global DRM standards and modern mobile data services. For the broader ecosystem, this signals a shift toward more specialized filtering at the edge of the broadcast-telecom spectrum overlap. As more nations adopt DRM for nationwide coverage, watch for increased demand for digitally tunable filtering that integrates directly with automated software-defined networking (SDN) at the transmitter site.

The global Digital Radio Mondiale (DRM) market is entering a phase of rapid expansion, with recent reports valuing the broader digital radio broadcasting sector at approximately $6.22 billion in 2026 (per Business Research Insights, May 2026). This growth is largely driven by large-scale adoption across the Asia-Pacific and African regions. Notably, in July 2025, the Chinese government officially adopted the National DRM Standard for medium-wave and shortwave bands, mandating the inclusion of DRM receivers in all domestically produced and imported vehicles (per RedTech, June 2024). This regulatory push has accelerated the industrial demand for infrastructure hardware capable of maintaining signal purity in increasingly congested urban frequency bands.

Technological pressure from 5G cellular densification has become a primary driver for specialized filtering solutions. Per Rohde & Schwarz (2025), the expansion of 5G applications into the lower C-band requires unprecedented spectral purity to prevent saturation of Low Noise Blocks (LNB) in satellite earth stations. In India, which launched 5G services in late 2022, recent studies highlight that 5G signals in the 3.3–3.67 GHz range pose significant adjacent-band interference risks to Fixed Satellite Services (FSS) that 200 million households rely on for television (per arXiv, December 2023). These environmental factors are forcing a shift away from standard filter modules toward custom-integrated, high-quality-factor solutions like those announced by Wainwright Instruments.