

There’s definitely a difference between rural and urban requirements.
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Analogue goes further, and can tolerate more interference.
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Open channels allow others to jump on quickly. E.g. a hunter/hiker listening in, can jump in with critical information on a search and rescue.
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Lower density means less people to mess with channels, and generally better radio etiquette.
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Open radios are cheaper, and already have the required infrastructure.
Basically, it’s not worth the cost/effort to upgrade. It also provides some extra benefits.
According to a friend in the industry, it’s basically a non issue. Things like this are not uncommon, and wouldn’t have even made the news, without what happened in Spain.
The national grid was less designed and more accreted. There are a lot of parts that are sub-optimal, but we are stuck with them due to the cost of replacement. They are therefore very hot on containing, and learning from any failure that happens.