Several Asian governments, including Thailand and Vietnam, are set to decide in the next year or two which digital radio standard they will adopt.

At first glance, the Digital Audio Broadcasting (DAB) platform (including successor DAB+) may be most likely because of its popularity elsewhere as an FM replacement (In the Uk, 16 million DAB sets have been sold).

But the consortium behind another standard, Digital Radio Mondiale (DRM), predicts that multiple platforms will be adopted in many Asian countries, especially where DAB is uneconomical for all radio players.

Previously thought of as a replacement shortwave service – some experts see DRM+,  which works on VHF bands including FM, as more reliable and cost-effective.

Asia Radio Today spoke to Ruxandra Obreja, Chair of the Digital Radio Mondiale consortium.

Can you start by telling us more about DRM technology?

DRM has one standard for all radio bands. On the lower bands (SW/MW/LW), it is called DRM30. For all VHF bands including FM, it is called DRM+. But it is the same standard.

DRM is fairly new to the VHF or FM bands – we were accepted and recommended by the ITU in 2011. But this is our opportunity to tell everyone that DRM can now do all the bands.

Are you worried that the likes of the BBC and Deutsche Welle have moved away from shortwave broadcasting?

Yes you’re right, the interest in the lower frequency bands has reduced somewhat recently because the large international broadcasters are moving away from shortwave. But there are several countries, the BRICs countries of Russia, China, India and Brazil, as well as others in Asia Pacific that have huge networks of medium wave (AM) services and huge areas to cover and these areas could never be covered by DAB or the US system HD Radio.

So people are very much considering DRM. What we recognise now is that there isn’t one solution for everybody. Some years back, people thought there was a battle of the standards. But I don’t think that is the case. Different countries will adopt different standards or different combinations of standards depending on a number of factors.

So how will digital radio take hold globally?

We believe this will happen with a fusion born at the level of the chipset and the receiver. Already chipset manufacturers are putting more than one digital radio standard on their boards, to ensure that receivers can offer more than one standard and will work in all countries. No radio manufacturer, no car manufacturer wants to build separate sets for different countries. So as soon as that happens on a much larger scale, DRM will take off.

Where do you think that DRM will be strongest?

I believe DRM 30 (SW/MW/LW) will be strongest in Asia. We already see DRM being adopted in India. We also see DRM transmitters popping up in Bangladesh, Japan, Uzbekistan and South Korea.

Malaysia has DRM transmitters for its medium wave (AM) service. Taiwan has just announced it is remodelling its shortwave capability with DRM.

We also a great interest from Brazil which is considering DRM and HD radio. If we are chosen, it will unlock the whole of Latin America. Russia has adopted DRM and is doing a lot of development on DRM 30.

Let’s say this, if you want to go digital on MW or SW, there is no other option, there is only DRM.

We also see our higher frequency service DRM+ complementing DAB+ where that has been chosen – like in Europe for example – where a number of smaller radio groups say they won’t be able to afford to join big national DAB+ multiplexes but DRM+ will be affordable.

Why do you think the roll-out of digital radio hasn’t happened faster?

A few years ago, people believed you would switch on digital and, a few years later, switch off analogue. But it will take time. Unlike mobile phones which were a completely new technology. There is a legacy issue with radio because of the sheer number of analogue radio sets in the market. There is a conversion exercise that needs to take place but that won’t happen overnight.

But there is no way radio will stay analogue in any country. The roll-out is dependent on having the right infrastructure, digital receiver manufacturers who will ramp up production and then the content on digital has to be convincing enough to make listeners want to give up their analogue radios.

India’s public broadcaster All India Radio (AIR) has committed to DRM. Does this have the potential to really change the radio game in India?  When private FM radio was launched a decade ago, it left left AIR looking a little out of date. DRM could help them stay relevant.

Yes that’s true, the private FM players have been very successful. But it is important to note that AIR remains extremely popular. It is the only radio service which can run news bulletins, and it has extensive dialect programming which is hugely important.

Remember, FM is only available in big cities at the moment. Even when phase III of private FM licensing takes place, FM will still only be available to just under half of India’s population. So there is still a huge desire for radio that still needs to be satisfied.

DRM could really revolutionise radio listening in India and there is no reason why commercial radio couldn’t be on DRM as well. We hope that once there is a network in place, there will be nothing stopping commercial radio from sharing that space with the public broadcaster.

But this is a huge investment for the Indian government. Are you confident it will happen?

The investment is being made, the money is committed, the tenders are out and the transmitters are starting to arrive in India. In fact, DRM is already on the air in some cities and there are dates for the roll-out of the service across the country, which you can find on the All India Radio website. So it is not so far away.

What we still need to sort out is the way the government, manufacturers and all the stakeholders can make the new digital receivers affordable to all Indians. That will make them affordable in other countries too. Once that happens, other countries will be more convinced to adopt DRM.

Land Rover Jaguar have just joined the DRM consortium. Does that mean that they will soon have DRM radio in their cars?

That is a question for them. But we are absolutely delighted to see them join the consortium. A very successful company like Land Rover Jaguar, which is owned by Indian conglomerate Tata, would not look to join our consortium unless they believed in the future of DRM. The digital receiver is a much easier to fit into a car and so, for that reason, we do see DRM in cars very soon.

Thailand is set to announce digital radio in the next year or so. Will they go for DRM?

We have recently received a delegation from Thailand in the UK. They were very interested in the British experience, which has been the most successful roll-out of digital radio in the world, so far. They also got presentations on DRM.

I hope in the future that we will be able to demonstrate that DRM has the potential to help regularise the situation of the many, many stations in Thailand and also offer a solution for covering the whole of the country.

Thailand is a very big country and has a large medium wave network that would easily convert it to DRM.  It already has very good DRM shortwave facilities. I hope they will choose something that fits its geography and the different social factors around the country.