WorldSpace digital satellite radio goes on the air (9914a)
Digital radios with Micronas chip technology start reception
Freiburg, October 25,1999 - On October 19, 1999, some nine years after the launch of the WorldSpace project, the era of digital satellite radio dawned in Africa. The entire African continent as well as parts of the Middle East - including many regions which have had no access at all to modern mass media up to now - can be served with information and entertainment broadcasts via the 'AfriStar' satellite. The WorldSpace programs can be received with small, high-tech "transistor radios" for which the Swiss chip manufacturer MICRONAS has developed a receiver chipset.
The range of programs on offer at the start of broadcasting comprises 25 channels with bandwidths from 16 to 128 kbit/s, broadcasting news programs in at least four languages (Arabic, English, French, and Afrikaans) and music in CD stereo quality. Thanks to the effective compression of the audio signals by the MPEG 2.5/Layer 3 method, only around half of the broadcasting capacity of the satellite is utilized.
Due to the digital transmission method used, the receiver technology had to be completely newly developed. The WorldSpace radios differ significantly in terms of both constructional design and function from conventional radios. The first feature one is struck by, for example, is the antenna which, just as big as the palm of a hand, has only to point roughly in the direction of the satellite. On the inside, the radios are characterized by the newly developed decoder ICs in which all the main reception functions are integrated, enabling the low-cost manufacture of portable receivers. The receivers, which are also equipped for solar-powered operation, are built under exclusive license by Hitachi, JVC, Matsushita, and Sanyo.
WorldSpace CEO Noah Samara is confident that sales of around 100,000 units will be achieved in the first few months. As part of a humanitarian initiative, one of whose sponsors is WorldSpace itself, a proportion of the radios - which cost between 200 and 400 US dollars - will be distributed free of charge. Samara anticipates that the prices will, in the medium term, fall to such an extent that the radios will become affordable to the populations of the poorer countries, too. Overall, he sees the potential for up to a billion units in the WorldSpace reception regions.
The start of broadcasting in Africa means that just one-third of the one billion dollar WorldSpace project is now up and running. The second satellite, 'AsiaStar', which will provide coverage of the Asian continent from China to India, is due to be launched in February 2000. Finally, by the end of the year 2000, the third satellite, 'AmeriStar', will take up its position over Latin America. WorldSpace will then have the potential for reaching over four and a half billion people in the developing and threshold countries of the southern hemisphere.