Commercial radio broadcasters in Australia announced plans to adopt the DAB+ standard for digital radio.
DAB+ is Eureka-147 DAB using the MPEG-4 HE AAC additional audio coding officially approved by the European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI) in February.
"We have been very active in supporting the international development of DAB+ because it means Australia will be able to adopt the latest, most spectrum efficient technology in the world for the roll out of our digital radio services," stated Commercial Radio Australia CEO Joan Warner.
Warner said commercial broadcasters would work with the Australian Broadcasting Corp. and SBS Radio to test the DAB+ standard in Australia to ensure there are no transmission or other technical problems.
The Australian government is drafting digital radio legislation and has set a launch date of 1 January 2009 for the launch of digital radio services in Sydney, New South Wales; Melbourne, Victoria; Brisbane, Queensland; Adelaide, South Australia; Perth, Western Australia; and Hobart, Tasmania. The commercial radio industry is planning for a phased rollout of digital across the rest of the country to follow.
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