Participants in India’s digital radio project call it the world’s largest digital radio deployment, and now Nautel said it has won an order for six 300 kW medium-wave transmitters from public broadcaster Prasar Bharati, part of the organization’s upgrade of its All India Radio facilities to DRM30 digital broadcasting.
Involved in the deployment with Nautel are its local partner Comcon, dummy load manufacturer Altronic and matching systems supplier Kintronic Labs.
“All India Radio (AIR) serves 99% of the people in India via their analog broadcasting service, covering a broad range of languages and dialects through the country,” Nautel stated. “They now plan to add the final percentage point to their coverage and convert all signals to digital in the process.”
It said the digital transition will allow the broadcaster to use platforms like mobile, SMS, webcasting and podcasting, and offer a news channel and other programming. “Additional services such as Interactive Text Transmission and disaster warning are also planned.”
In the announcement, Nautel’s Hal Kneller, regional sales manager for Europe and Africa, stated, “Not only will listeners hear high-quality sound on AM broadcasts, they will also enjoy many of the multimedia features that DRM has to offer.” He is a member of the DRM Consortium executive and steering boards. Nautel also stated that this purchase brings total deployment of NX Series transmitters to over 14 megawatts, which it says makes it “the most successful medium-wave product line” ever.
All India Radio has been part of Prasar Bharati since the latter was established in 1997.
Related:
Digital Radio and the Future of Shortwave (2011)
AIR Looks to Buy or Upgrade 248 Transmitters for DRM (2010)
