DAB Group Targets Latin America

Will Central and South America be tempted by HD Radio? Or will those countries go the Eureka route, as so many other nations have?
The consortium dedicated to selling the Eureka-147 digital radio technology is turning its efforts on Latin America.
With Eureka relatively more established in Europe and Canada, the WorldDAB Forum is looking at potential markets in Central and South America. It targets 18 countries: Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, El Salvador, Ecuador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Uruguay and Venezuela.
The region represents a huge potential audience for digital radio. Roughly 345 million people live in South America, 78% in urban areas, according to the WorldDAB Forum. The majority live in Brazil.
Central American nations, by contrast, have a population of 38 million, with the majority living in rural areas.
WorldDAB representatives were in Brazil in late October as part of an event by the Alliance for the Information Society, which aims to reduce the digital divide between Europe and Latin America. The European Commission has financed the AIS with roughly $88.7 million.