Miro Teixeira, who took over from Juarez Quadros as Brazil?s communications minister on January 1, has vowed to foster the development of an indigenous standard for terrestrial digital television. China and India set examples worth following in this regard, according to the new minister. Having a home-grown standard will drive domestic industrial development, he argues, citing the choice of PAL-M for color TV as a key factor in promoting the expansion of television set manufacturing in Brazil. He admits that the idea hasn?t been approved by President Luís Inácio Lula da Silva, however. He adds that a choice of DTV standard shouldn?t be rushed but might yet happen before the end of 2003. Anatel has already ruled out consideration of the Chinese standard because it hasn?t been validated by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU). Some experts see the case of PAL-M as a strong argument against an indigenous Brazilian DTV standard because it would lead to isolation. India adopted the European standard (DVB-T) in 2000.
New policy
