Well, I’ve just been reviewing a digital radio thanks to the recent provision of a digital radio trial in Canberra. I rang ACMA for information about the power output of the trial in Canberra (1kW) and also asked when we’d be going full bore.
Turns out we won’t be. Necessarily. The current trial ends on 30 June 2011. There is no provision in the legislation for licences to be granted in regional areas (of which Canberra is one). In other words, unless an Act of Parliament is passed, we probably won’t have digital radio at all after than date, and at the moment we don’t even have a working Parliament.
A review of the trial has to take place under the legislation commencing at the end of this year, but the fellow I spoke to can’t — properly — presuppose or suggest what its outcome will be.
Anyway, if you live in Canberra, it is probably not such a good idea at this stage to spend big on a digital radio.