Hackett's Cove, NS - Jan 18, 2013 - Nautel has received orders for 21 additional medium-wave AM transmitters and associated equipment from India's Prasar Bharati. The orders for 100kW and 200kW transmitters join the earlier-announced order of six 300kW DRM transmitters from All India Radio as the world's largest digital radio deployment to date. All transmitters in the system will be configured for DRM30 transmission and will be used in 27 locations throughout India.

All India Radio (AIR) serves the entire country of India via their analog broadcasting service, covering a broad range of languages and dialects through the country. The transition to digital broadcasting will allow AIR to use alternate platforms such as podcasting, SMS, webcasting and mobile services, and offer a 24-hour news channel along with other programming. Additional services such as Interactive Text Transmission and disaster warning are also planned.

"This project is especially significant for digital broadcasting, for India, for the AM radio broadcasting industry as a whole and of course for Nautel," said Peter Conlon, Nautel president and CEO. "This deployment will bring unprecedented numbers of listeners to digital radio, which in turn fosters receiver innovation and places India at the forefront of broadcasting. It also reinvigorates medium-wave transmission and underlines the coverage advantages of the AM band, which has been languishing in many parts of the world. For the broadcast industry as a whole, this is an unabashed validation that radio is a medium that has a place in our mixed media world for decades to come."

Working with Nautel on the deployment are Comcon, Nautel's in-country partner along with Altronic, providing RF test loads and Kintronic Labs, supplying matching systems for the project. The orders from Prasar Bharati include transmitters, DRM modulators/content servers, antenna coupling equipment and test loads as well as services. The project includes six Nautel NX300 (300kW MW-AM), 10 NX200 (200kW MW-AM) and 11 NX100 (100kW MW-AM) transmitters.