The National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission (NBTC) of Thailand has developed drafts of technical standards for radio receivers and radio transmitters as well as a national frequency plan to align with current technological situation and prevent potential interference in the use of devices in specific frequency bands.

These national standards are based on international requirements, which will make conformity assessment easier for manufacturers who have products approved under IEC/ETSI standards’ requirements.

Thus, NBTC BS XXXX-2567 “Digital Broadcasting Radio Receiver” specifies the minimum specifications for Digital Audio Broadcasting (DAB) receivers encoding MPEG-4 High Efficiency Advanced Audio Coding Version 2 (MPEG-4 HE AAC v2) or DAB+ Audio, covering the following types of digital audio broadcasting receivers:

1. Automotive receivers, both new vehicle and replacement units
2. Domestic, portable receivers
3. Any other type of digital audio broadcasting receiver that is an additional component for installation in a vehicle (Adaptor for analogue in-vehicle receiver)

Digital audio broadcasting receivers that cannot process signals by themselves (Non-standalone receivers), such as a receiver connected via a computer in the form of a Dongle or PCI Card, are out of the scope.

The standard is based on the following international standards:

• ETSI TS 103 461 v1.2.2 (2020-10)
• ETSI TS 101 756 v2.4.1 (2020-08)
• IEC 62368–1
• IEC 60315-3: 1989/AMD1:1999
• Recommendation ITU-R SM.332-4 (1978-07)
• IEC 62106:2015

NBTC BS XXXX-2567 “Digital Broadcasting Radio Transmitters” specifies the minimum technical specifications of digital broadcasting transmitters.

The operating radio frequencies of digital broadcasting transmitters must comply with the announcement of the National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission on frequency plans.

The transmission system in the digital broadcasting service shall be the Digital Audio Broadcasting (DAB) system as defined in ETSI EN 300 401 v2.1.1 (2017-01) [1] or any later version.

The modulation shall be Differential Quadrature Phase Shift Keying (D-QPSK) modulation.

The transmission mode shall be Mode I with the following parameters: for signaling, the parameters are as specified in ETSI EN 300 401 v2.1.1 (2017-01) or later versions, as shown in the table below, and the transmission frame structure is as shown on the picture below.
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Thus, standard FM/AM receivers (without digital (DAB) receivers) are currently exempt from approval in Thailand and won’t be approved once the standards are in force. However, FM/AM/DAB receivers that currently do not require national approval will need to show compliance with the above-mentioned standards once the original versions are published. Please note, test reports from foreign labs are acceptable if they contain all the requirements from the NBTC technical standard for the conformity assessment procedure of digital receivers. However, don’t forget that the product must support the Thai Profile to display text in the Thai language, and the user’s manual must be in both Thai and English.

Useful links: 

• Draft Frequency Plan NBTC FP 104-2567 Digital Broadcasting Services
• Draft NBTC BS XXXX-2567 Digital Broadcasting Radio Receiver
• Draft of NBTC BS XXXX-2567 Digital Broadcasting Radio Transmitter

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The information has been prepared by the GMA Consult Group team.

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