The Confederation of Indian Industry, in cooperation with the DRM Consortium, is organizing a national seminar on the opportunities offered by the rollout of digital radio. “DRM: The Future of Indian Radio – Business Opportunities for Stakeholders” will be held Feb. 28, 2014 at Hotel Le Meridien, New Delhi.
The event aims to energize the Indian receiver manufacturing industry.
All India Radio is replacing and/or converting 72 MW transmitters to digital, which should increase coverage to 70 percent of the population. Four SW transmitters are also being replaced.
A committee led by Dr. Sam Pitroda, advisor to the prime minister on public information, infrastructure and innovation, was created by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting to consider changes for Prasar Bharati.
In their report, the group recommended “Given the popularity of FM, AIR should continue to increase the coverage of FM from 43 percent to 65 percent. Once the DRM eco-system is stabilized, AIR can consider migration of FM to DRM+.”
The seminar intends to showcase features and benefits for manufacturers; to flag business opportunities in designing, developing and manufacturing receivers; and to understand the potential of “value-added” services.
“The National Policy on Electronics 2012 has the vision to create a globally competitive electronics design and manufacturing industry to meet the country’s need and serve the international markets,” said Vinod Sharma, chairman of the CII National Committee on Information, Communication, Technology and Electronics Manufacturing. “The policy provides for several incentives for encouraging R&D, manufacturing and exports.”
