[BC] It's Eureka over IBOC down under

[Ernie Belanger]

>From RBR
Australia picks Eureka-147 over IBOC
The Australian Federal Minister for Communications Helen Coonan announced that country will use the Eureka-147 system for its DAB system. DAB will be introduced in phases, beginning with large metro. New commercial license allocations will be frozen for six years once the digital broadcasts begin. Coonan's said the digital radio policy was supplementary, not replacement. 

This means no switch-off of analog stations is contemplated and digital radio will become another consumer choice. This is a whole new mind-set, brought about by the Government's dissatisfaction with the rate of uptake of digital television. The analogue TV switch-off date, presently the end of 2008, will soon be pushed out, at least to 2012, in recognition of the fact consumers have been slow to embrace the new technology. 

Said The Australian: "The Government, quite understandably, does not want to be saddled with a similar dilemma on radio. So the supplementary, not replacement, policy firmly puts the future of digital radio into the hands of the radio industry. The message is: 'Take it or leave it. You asked for it, here it is; now, you make it work.' So we can now look forward to a three-tier radio system where, at a touch of a button, we will be able to choose AM, FM or digital signals." Australia proposes to use two different parts of the broadcast spectrum for digital - VHF Band III and L Band for fill-in or overcrowded locations - and entertains the idea that Digital Radio Mondiale may be used in remote locations because of its wider coverage