In an artice published on broadcastandcablesat.co.in Mr Yogendra Pal, Honorary Chairman of the Indian DRM Platform, outlines the 2024 DRM FM Roadmap for India.

All India Radio (AIR), the public service broadcaster in India, is providing terrestrial radio services in all the radio broadcast bands — MW, SW, and FM. Commercial broadcasting in FM band is licensed to private radio stations, and community radio stations are also permitted for non-commercial use.

At present, most of the terrestrial radio services in India are in analogue, except for some
services of AIR in MW and SW bands, which are in DRM digital.

Keeping in view the advantages of digital radio broadcasting, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI), the regulator for broadcasting, on Feb 1, 2018, had recommended to the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (M/o I&B), Government of India, that digital broadcasting in FM band (VHF band II) should also be allowed, without disturbing the existing analogue transmissions.

The regulator on Sep 21, 2023, has further recommended to the M/o that the commercial use of low-power terrestrial FM broadcasting for small range coverage by residential complexes, industrial exhibitions, and small businesses may also be permitted and the licensee should be allowed to deploy any type of transmission technologies (analogue/digital/any other).

Read the full article on broadcastandcablesat.co.in.