No Mexico IBOC Announcement Yet

01.21.2010

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It appears reports that Mexico has chosen HD Radio as the official digital radio technology for the entire country are premature.

Radio World América Latina, the Latin American sister publication of Radio World, says the communications regulator in Mexico, CoFeTel, has made no statement on the issue and indeed a Radio World search of CoFeTel’s Web site reveals no announcement.

However, a source for Radio World A.L. believes Mexico is getting ready to declare HD Radio its digital radio technology of choice when that governing body meets again in the spring.

A Jan. 13 article from “Radio Industry of the Mexico Valley,” a greater Mexico City broadcasters association, quotes a CoFeTel official, Jose Luis Peralta, as saying during a recent news conference that Mexico will vote for IBOC as its digital radio standard — over Eureka 147, which it also tested — because IBOC allows stations to go digital without additional spectrum.

El Universal reported that Peralta wants to be chairman of CoFeTel.

We’ve reported that Mexican stations within approximately 200 miles of the U.S. border have been using HD Radio since 2008 on a voluntary basis. If, indeed, Mexico does decide to allow IBOC use countrywide, it’s not clear whether it would be voluntary or mandated.

Mexico also continues to test Digital Radio Mondiale.

A spokesman for iBiquity Digital Corp. declined comment for this story.