Indonesia switches on DAB+

By James Cridland for media.info
Posted 20 April 2016, 12.14am edt

Radio Republik Indonesia, the public service broadcaster, has turned on DAB+ in Indonesia.

This is a permanent DAB+ service, making Indonesia one of the largest DAB+ markets in the world. DAB+ broadcasts will cover an initial three cities, including the capital Jakarta.

Indonesia has a population of more than 250 million people. To put it another way, its population is roughly the same as the established DAB+ countries of Germany, the UK, Norway, Sweden, Australia, Belgium and France combined. However, only 44% of the population listens to radio in Indonesia, for an average of 15 hours a week.

Most of Indonesia's internet traffic is mobile, and smartphone penetration is growing rapidly. LG have recently released the LG Stylus DAB+, a medium-cost phablet with DAB+ built-in. This represents an opportunity for RRI's programming, as well as a significant new market for this new phone should LG release it in the country.

• In other related news, Thailand has announced that they'll start broadcasting DAB+ in 2018.

Press Release

Indonesia switches on DAB+ digital radio

Public broadcaster Radio Republik Indonesia (RRI) has launched DAB+ digital radio in Jakarta.
Director General of Communications and Public Information of the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology, Ms Niken Widiastuti announced the launch in Jakarta. The Indonesian radio industry and regulator have worked together to move Indonesian radio onto the digital platform.

Commercial Radio Australia chief executive officer and WorldDAB Asia Pacific Chair, Ms Joan Warner congratulated RRI on the launch.

“Congratulations to Indonesia on being the first major market in the Asia Pacific to launch its permanent DAB+ services. The adoption of the digital radio platform will allow broadcasters to multichannel and provide more content and interaction for listeners in a cost effective and environmentally efficient way. We hope to see other countries in the region making similar announcements soon.”

With a population of more than 250 million people the adoption of DAB+ in Indonesia makes it one of the largest DAB+ markets in the world. DAB/DAB+ digital radio is now available in over 40 countries.

“Indonesia has a strong manufacturing industry in the Asia Pacific in electronics and vehicles and we look forward to working with RRI to showcase the advanced DAB+ features on connected receivers and smartphones,” said Ms Warner.

Indonesian radio broadcasters have previously travelled to Australia to hold technical and policy meetings with key digital radio stakeholders and visited the DAB+ Darwin trial to understand how the technology functioned under similar climatic conditions to Indonesia.