Smartphones set to boost radio audience

BANGALORE, INDIA: With the implementation of an HD radio chip, smartphones will be able to hear the digital over-the-air stations.

According to an ABI report by 2015, digital radio will reach 200 million people -- and much of the growth will come from smartphones.

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The report quoted senior analyst Sam Rosen as saying eventually, probably sometime next year, handset manufacturers will implement an HD radio chip in every device. This chip would move streaming digital audio from the carrier's network to the public spectrum the radio stations use.

This will be a boon to users as music is data-heavy, and carriers have started phasing out unlimited data plans in favor of tiered pricing.

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"Everyone followed the news this spring when AT&T adopted tiered data usage plans. That ultimately came about because they couldn't handle the data traffic to a sustainable point. A study in the U.K. showed they could only handle 4-5 million streaming audio listeners. Providers like AT&T want to give customers a good user experience with the content they want on their phone, but they (AT&T) don't have infinite network bandwidth," Rosen said.