I refer to a letter published in Radio World titled “An Australian Perspective on Digital” written by Alan Hughes, technical author, Perth, Western Australia (Reader’s Forum, Dec. 15).
While Mr. Hughes is free to voice his own opinion about digital radio, your readers may have been under the impression he was in some way involved in the broadcast of digital radio or the commercial radio industry in Australia and he is not.
Commercial Radio Australia is the industry body representing 99 percent of the commercial radio industry in Australia. CRA made a submission to the Department of Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy discussion paper on regional technologies, reaffirming the commercial radio industry’s often-stated position that DAB+ in Band III VHF is the industry’s preferred technology for regional Australia with technology for wide-area coverage, specifically in remote regional areas being considered at a later date once the planning for the DAB+ rollout is complete.
The Minister for Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy, Sen. Stephen Conroy, announced at the National Radio Conference in October 2010 in Melbourne, the government has already identified that 14 megahertz of spectrum in the VHF Band III will be made available to facilitate the rollout of digital radio to rural and regional Australia; and we look forward to working with the regulator, ACMA, to enable all Australians to ultimately be able to experience the benefits of DAB+ digital radio.
Joan Warner
Chief Executive Officer
Commercial Radio Australia
Sydney, Australia
