PNoy mulls Japanese digital TV standard for emergency disaster response

President Benigno Aquino III showed an inclination to adopt the Japanese ISDB-T (Integrated Service Digital Broadcasting – Terrestrial) digital television standard in Philippines because of its proven usefulness during emergencies.

 

Aquino discussed this matter with Japan Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in a conversation they had in the sidelines of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) summit, he said in an interview with the Philippine media in Brunei, Wednesday.

 

Saving lives in emergencies and disasters

 

What convinced stakeholders to choose the Japanese standard was its reliability during emergency broadcasts, as proven when it was used at the time of the Fukushima earthquake of 2011.

 

“We are told that it was used during the Fukushima incident. The Shinkansen bullet trains managed to stop seconds to a minute prior to the earthquake hitting. It's (ISDB-T's) ability to turn on television sets to broadcast this warning maski na naka-off that saved lives,” Aquino said.

 

Proponents of the rival European Digital Video Broadcasting-Terrestrial 2 (DVB-T2) standard admitted that DVB-T2 lacked this capability, but offered to implement a similar warning system.

 

But Aquino pointed out that there's a difference between feasibility and proven implementation.

 

“The one is conceptually ‘it will work;’ the other is supposed to have worked already,” he said.

 

Overwhelming support from stakeholders

 

Aquino said that the technical team has finished its assessment of the systems and the “overwhelming 'most'” of the stakeholders suggested that they adopt the Japanese sytem. However, the migration to the Japanese standard has not been finalized.

 

“Ngayon, may last step gagawin ng NTC (National Telecommunications Commission) which is to hold a hearing amongst the stakeholders who were actually the proponents. So parang we are migrating to the Japanese digital standards—that’s one thing we discussed,” Aquino said.

 

The hearing will be the “last bureaucratic step necessary” before discussing the details of the plan.

 

NTC backing

 

The NTC has been endorsing ISDB-T since 2010.

 

The agency recommended the Japanese standard as it is less expensive than Europe's DVB-T2 and also has an integrated early warning system for natural disasters such as earthquakes, tsunamis and typhoons which the European version lacks, NTC commissioner Gamaliel Cordoba said in January.

 

The Philippines is scheduled to migrate from analog to digital broadcasting by 2015. — TJD, GMA News