Japan urges Philippines to adopt its digital TV standard

Japanese government officials this week urged the Philippine government to adopt its Integrated Services Digital Broadcast (ISDB) technology standard over Europe’s Digital Video Broadcast Handheld or DVB-H platform, Manila’s BusinessMirror reports.

Japan’s Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications said it was aware that the technical working group (TWG) formed by the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) had twice recommended the DVB-H platform. But the ministry’s Deputy Director for International Relations, Yasushi Furukawa, said at a press briefing that there was more to learn about the Japanese standard.

“One reason why our technology platform was not recommended was because there was little information about ISDB. The information was not really disseminated to the Philippines, particularly during the time when the Europeans came to the Philippines to promote their own standard,” he said. “It is only now that we are here to explain what our technology can really do. The Philippine government has allowed us to explain this matter.”

Countries belonging to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) endorsed the DVB-T standard as the common digital TV broadcasting standard during the 9th conference of ASEAN Ministers Responsible for Information, held in Jakarta in May 2007.