The central government is focusing on expanding the reach of All India Radio (AIR) mainly in the border areas. AIR is a public broadcaster and its transmitters cover approximately 99.2% of the country in terms of population. By area, these transmitters are known to cover almost 92% of the country’s landmass.
Prakash Javadekar, Union Minister for Information and Broadcasting replied to a question asked in the Lok Sabha on September 23, 2020, Wednesday, that the broadcasting network of AIR has provided large-scale coverage over the years including near the border areas of the country.
Various Door Darshan and AIR channels along with several other private channels for Television and Frequency Modulation (FM) is provided by DD Free Dish direct-to-home (DTH) platforms in every part of the country, excluding Andaman and Nicobar Islands, as stated by Javadekar.
He further added that DD and AIR channels have now been made available at Andaman and Nicobar Islands via C-band through the satellite connection, as provided by Prasar Bharti.
Apart from this, Prasar Bharti is also running AIR and DD channels on a digital platform through the internet along with the News-On-Air apps. These applications are easily available on mobile phones on both iOS and Android platforms.
The minister stated that some key projects shall be implemented soon to expand the AIR coverage. He further added that to supplement terrestrial TV coverage in border areas, it has been decided to set up five new High Power TV transmitters at Green Ridge, Patnitop and Rajouri (two) in J&K and Himbotingla in Ladakh.
Adding some specific details he stated that these projects include 32 FM transmitters being installed in the uncovered regions. These transmitters will have a range from 1 kW to 10 kW.
In addition to this, he added that 100W FM transmitters shall also be installed at almost 111 locations for local coverage. Along with this, 5 mobile 5kW FM transmitters will be added at the Line of Control (LOC) in Jammu & Kashmir. In West Bengal, 5kW SW digital transmitters are to be installed at Kurseong, which is a part of another such project.
