Digital radio can help the broadcast sector double its revenues to Rs 12300 cr

The adoption of digital radio technology can help the broadcast sector double its revenues to Rs 12,300 crore in five years riding on a robust mobile ecosystem, a new report showed on Thursday.

The country has so far tested two technologies — HD Radio and Digital Radio Mondiale (DRM) — for digital broadcasting in FM bands.

According to a report by the India Cellular and Electronics Association (ICEA) and EY, radio stations will go up from less than 300 today to over 1,100 without additional spectrum and mass adoption cannot happen without the support of a mobile ecosystem.

“Digital broadcast radio has the ability to cater to segments of entry-level smartphones and several hundred million feature phone users to receive enhanced services in areas of health, education, emergency and weather which by complementing data networks decongest them,” said Pankaj Mohindroo, Chairman, ICEA.

“Communication usage with internet of things (IoT) devices are next steps envisaged in the pipeline too,” he added. Business Insider