Philippines adopts Japanese standard for DTV

The National Telecommunications Commission of the Philippines (NTC) has announced that Japanese standard will be the sole platform for the country’s migration to digital TV.

In a memorandum circular, the NTC said Japan’s Integrated Services Digital Broadcast-Terrstrial (ISDB-T) standard would be standard used in the delivery of digital terrestrial TV (DTT) services in the Philippines.

ISDB-T is a flexible digital TV transmission system that is capable of providing audio, video and data services to fixed, mobile and handheld terminals without the need for an additional transmission facility.  It also has an early warning system for earthquakes and typhoons.

The NTC said adoption of the Japanese standard was based on the re-evaluation of the latest and most appropriate and suitable DTT standard, to include the emergence of the second-generation DTT standards and the update of the prevailing market price of the set-top boxes.

The Philippines had planned to migrate to digital TV in 2015. Currently, FTA or non-cable households comprise 90 per cent of the country’s 17 million viewers.