DIS Technology, M&G team up for digital radio venture

MESDAQ-LISTED DIS Technology Holdings Bhd (DIST) and Mercantile and Gentry (M) Sdn Bhd (M&G) have jointly developed a range of digital audio broadcasting (DAB) radio receivers to cater specifically to the European market, which is experiencing a boom in DAB usage.

Managing director Simon B. Marshall said the radios, manufactured by DIS Technology in Penang, would be for the export market, primarily to Britain, the biggest market for DAB in the world.

He added that the four table-top models, to be sold under the M&G Audio name, would be marketed as premium products to high-end consumers, who made up about 10% of the market segment in Britain.

Analysts forecast that by 2008, the annual DAB radio market in Britain would be worth £500mil, compared with £90mil last year.

M&G expected to export between 15,000 and 20,000 units by year-end, Marshall told reporters after the launching of DIS Technology's and M&G's DAB radio models by Science, Technology and Innovation Minister Datuk Seri Dr Jamaludin Jarjis in Kuala Lumpur on Tuesday.

He said that once Malaysian radio broadcasters adopted the DAB technology, M&G would release a range of radios for the local market, with retail price from RM200 to RM250 each.

From left:
DIS Technology chairman Radziwill Mohamed,
Simon B. Marshall,
Dustin Cheah and
Datuk Seri Dr Jamaludin Jarjis
at the launch of the DAB digital radio.

DAB is a new way of broadcasting radio via a network of terrestrial transmitters. A DAB radio provides listeners with improved sound compared with current analogue radios and is capable of carrying data information such as text, pictures and video.

Managing director Dustin Cheah said the company would engineer hardware and software in line with the needs of M&G, which would market the products.

DIS Technology is the designer and creator of the Blue Thunder range of products, which includes modems, webcams and MP3 players.

Also launched at the event is DIST's e-commerce platform, Dolarmaker.com.