- Adaptation of the RAS-law and the new needs: the legal basic conditions will be adapted to the basic law reform as well as the new legal and technical possibilities
- Finance of the project of the RAS in the household of the country and coverage of the planed projects by a perennial financing plan
- Adaptation of a job chart of RAS to the new added needs
- Allocation of a convenient plant
- Service and maintenance of the transmitter network and the infrastructure of the RAS
- Commissioning of the digital broadcasting network and of the transition from the analogical FM technology to the digital DAB digital radio technology. Expansion of the correspondent program offers by order of the government of the province
- Realization of collective infrastructures for public broadcasting services, public radio services, as well as for private program offerer and mobile provider
- Diffusion of broadcasting programs as well as radio- and data services for third-party organizations (Carrier-services)
- Expansion of the international digital radio relay and the radio ring line Bozen-Innsbruck-Bozen
- Prosecution and extension of the corporation with the public broadcasting companies ORF, ZDF, SRG, ARD, RAI and with the authorities, the communication ministry and the private program offerer as well as the intensification of the public relation
- Adoption of a costs- and results accounting for the disbursements of RAS adverse third-party organizations
Broadcasting has experienced a basic change due to its technological changes. During the last years there has been an increase of the transmission modes, such as digital broadcasting, Internet television, video on call or mobile broadcasting. Also the receive-units have changed fundamentally due to the new needs of the users.
However, television and radio remain the most important mass media that reach the largest percentage of the population and inform them in spite of the rapid development of new communication technologies.
The cultural task of the RAS is to broadcast the programs of German and Ladin speaking pubblic broadcasting companies from the bordering foreign countries in South Tyrol by order of the South Tyrolean government. The RAS follows this basic support order by an almost full-coverage terrestrial supply with programs from the German and Ladin speaking cultural area.
The transmitter net of the RAS currently consists of about 1.000 transmitting sets which operate in about 120 locations (75 of them in possession of the broadcasting company of RAS). The asset amounts to about 65 million Euros. It is necessary to preserve this stock by constant servicing and maintenance.
The current coverage with 99.6 percent can be called full-coverage. Now small edge areas which could not be supplied with analog technology can now be covered thanks to new transmission technologies. The digital technology besides the trouble-free reception has the farther advantage that broadcasting costs can be lowered with a higher number of programs.
The transmitter locations of the RAS, moreover, are used by important radio services of the state and the country e.g. the Carabinieri, the police, the civil defence, the country emergency number, the white cross, the fire brigade and the mountain rescue. The RAS locations are provided to different mobile radio operators, the private broadcasting company suppliers and above all to the RAI. The transmitter locations of the RAS also ensure the recently activated broadband-internet services. Currently more than 920 radio transmitters and television broadcasting stations and more than 450 public radio services are installed on the transmitter locations of the RAS.
These common transmitter locations are all settled outside populated areas. Therefore they have a relatively small impact on the environment and the landscape.
Due to these advantages the RAS will establish common transmitter locations on the basis of the country subject plan for communication infrastructures in the order of the South Tyrolean government within the next years.
The program offer could also be increased by means of application of new transmission technologies. Otherwise the program quality could further be improved.
The spreading of high-definition television programs (High definition television HDTV) using the new compression codec MPEG4 will be realised by the RAS in South Tyrol with ambition.
During the last years, the RAS has established a new digital directional radio net for the program transmission from the RAS-seat in Bozen to the main transmitter locations in South Tyrol and for the program exchange between North Tyrol and South Tyrol. Within the next years this net should be continuously developed and should reach all main transmitter locations in the different valleys.
Also the spreading of the digital radio (Digital Audio Broadcasting DAB) will be advanced. With the purchase of farther transmitting sets the existing radio programs can be spread more capillary. The use of new transference standards (DAB+) will still increase the quality and the number of the transmitted radio programs.
The RAS receives more and more requests for the spreading of radio programs as well as radio services and data services for third-party organizations (Carrier services, network operators). To do this there would be necessary an adaptation of the legal bases, the definition of an administrative processes and more personnel and financial resources.
In the telecommunication sector the RAS will further speed up the development of broadband infrastructures in South Tyrol by order of the South Tyrolean government. By means of European advertisings and projects, which are also financed by EU appropriations, the peripheral areas of South Tyrol should be supplied with fast Internet connections and mobile radio.
All these plans require an intensive cooperation with the different departments of the country, the authorities, the municipalities, the ministries and the different broadcasting companies inland and abroad. Because these plans, however, also concern large population circles, a strengthening of the public relations is necessary.
In order that the RAS can follow her basic support order, it requires a secure annual allocation. The technical area requires more than other areas a long-term planning.
Currently, the RAS is financed by the three country departments culture, spatial planning and public works. A coordination of these allocations is necessary to guarantee the efficiency and transparency.
Due to her technical competence the RAS advises different institutions like regional authorities, ministries, services of public interest, mobile radio operators and private operators. Furthermore, the RAS is a member of the country commission for communication infrastructures and plays a consulting part in working groups of the ministry of economic development. The perception of such important duties requires a regular schooling of the certified staff of the RAS, an adaptation of the job chart to the new needs as well as a suitable financial equipment of the broadcasting company of South Tyrol.