Indonesian radio broadcasters from public and commercial stations are visiting Australia this week, to hold technical and policy meetings with key digital radio stakeholders, attend the National Radio Conference on the Gold Coast and visit the Darwin DAB+ trial being conducted in similar climatic conditions to those in Indonesia.
Hosted by Commercial Radio Australia, the Indonesian radio delegation which includes senior representatives from the PT Radionet Cipta Karya, PT Ramako Radio Group, Radio Republik of Indonesia and PT Siprama Komunindo will meet with commercial and the public service broadcasters, plus industry regulator the Australian Communication and Media Authority (ACMA) and the Department of Broadband Communications and the Digital Economy (DBCDE), to discuss the successful switch on of digital radio in Australia.
Joan Warner, chief executive officer of Commercial Radio Australia said: “Like Australia, Indonesia’s radio industry is made up of public and commercial radio stations and the delegation is very interested to talk about the policy settings and technical planning associated with the roll out of digital radio in the five metropolitan markets and to review the initial results of the DAB+ trial in Darwin to understand how digital radio responds in humid and wet weather conditions.”
The delegation will also visit the TXA Australia Artarmon tower site to inspect the DAB+ antenna, transmitters and multiplexes which are jointly owned and operated by the broadcaster consortiums and have been established to minimise the shared costs of DAB+ infrastructure.
The Indonesian radio industry and regulator are jointly considering DAB+ as a possible digital platform and with a population of more than 237 million people; adoption would make it one of the largest DAB+ markets.
DAB+ digital radio technology implemented in Australia is the standard adopted in Switzerland, Malta, Hungary, Germany, Italy and Hong Kong. Trials are being conducted or considered in France, Spain, Poland, Czech Republic and Malaysia. China and Korea currently use the original DAB standard for radio but are considering using DAB+.
Media contact - Melissa Fleming - 0417 499 529