As part of Phase II of the DRM introduction in the country, AIR is demonstrating the full complement of services which are part of the DRM standard. Recently AIR was congratulated by Hon’ble Union Minister for Information and Broadcasting Shri Venkaiah Naidu for having successfully completed phase-I of the national DRM digital radio roll-out – the installation of 37 DRM transmitters, now operational, throughout the country. AIR is in the process of launching phase-II of the DRM project by offering full features/services from these DRM transmitters and further improving service quality. With the finalization of phase-II, the fullfeatured DRM services will finally be available to the audience and a public information campaign will be initiated to inform the Indian citizens of the completely new and future oriented DRM radio platform and its many benefits.
The first steps of phase-II of the digital radio roll-out project are already visible and audible to the audience in Delhi. The DRM transmissions from Delhi/Nangli now provide excellent audio quality based on DRM’s xHE-AAC audio codec. It also includes DRM text messages and Journaline. The advanced text service Journaline provides detailed news of various topics to listeners – accessible on their radio set screen – free of charge, without requiring Internet access. All this is available in the simulcast configuration and with the most robust DRM transmission configuration, enabling increased in-door coverage.
21 DRM transmitters are now operating in pure DRM for one hour everyday, in addition to simulcast operation. Excellent feedback is being received by AIR about of the reception quality of DRM signals. AIR is planning to enhance the DRM service from Chennai, Pune and Bangalore very shortly.