Digital FM Radio to redefine the Mobile Entertainment Landscape

Xperi Corporation and India Cellular & Electronics Association supported by RMS (SG) have jointly organized a workshop on ‘Digital Radio Vision for India’. In the event the parties presented their outlook for the transition of the Radio from an analogue to a digital medium. The workshop was presided by the Chief Guest, R.S. Sharma, Chairman, Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) with Shashi S. Vempati, CEO, Prasar Bharati as the Guest of Honour.

The HD Radio system supports multiple audio programmes on a single transmission frequency. This is more effective than current analogue radio which provides only 1 audio programme per channel. These additional audio channels can be utilised for multi-language programming and local content. Best of all, listeners with an HD Radio receiver can continue to listen to their favourite analogue stations besides digital content free for listeners.

The system supports multimedia information, providing synchronized text and images with the audio programme without using any cellular data for an enhanced experience. HD Radio system also supports digital emergency alerting and notifications that can be instrumental in providing the public with resilient notification and actionable information (audio, text, images) during times of public emergency and network outages.

Ramashish Ray, Founder of Retail Management Services, a Mobile Ecosystem Enabler and the company responsible for evangelizing the digital radio concept in mobility to India said, “It's encouraging that the Indian Govt has outlined a clear vision for digital radio and it would be really exciting to be part of the first Digital Radio mobile phone story like the first FM phone was. We are happy to have worked on mobile phone chipset level integration and reference designs which can enable this at India specific prices with mass deployment in India. This will be a key enabler to the ecosystem.”

 Radio broadcasting represents a cost-efficient system for transmitting information (currently audio) to millions of listeners simultaneously. Radio's "one-to-many" business model is the most effective point-to-multipoint transmission scheme available. The cost of content delivery is the same whether you reach one thousand listeners or one million listeners. In India, the increase radio broadcasting has resulted in an increase in radio listening, and is growing year-over-year.