On June 11, the Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism of Lao Cai province informed that, according to the review, the whole province currently has 159 commune-level radio stations with about 4,600 loudspeaker clusters and radio and television equipment. However, many systems have deteriorated and operate ineffectively.
Notably, out of 70 FM radio stations in operation, only 14 stations operate stably, accounting for 20%; 35 stations operate poorly and 21 stations are completely damaged. Similarly, more than 71% of FM speaker clusters in the area operate unstablely or have been damaged.
The main reason is that most of the equipment was invested in many years ago, degraded over time, while the cost of maintenance and repair is still limited. In addition, harsh weather conditions and the process of arranging administrative units also affect the efficiency of system exploitation.
Meanwhile, the broadcasting system applying information technology - telecommunications (IT-VT) shows outstanding efficiency. Currently, 73/89 IT-VT stations operate stably, reaching more than 82%; over 75% of radio and broadcasting clusters applying digital technology operate well.
It is known that Lao Cai currently has about 2,820/2,906 villages and residential groups covered by loudspeakers. However, only about half of the villages and residential groups have loudspeaker clusters operating stably; many remote, isolated, ethnic minority and border areas still face difficulties in accessing official information.
Not only is there a shortage of transmission infrastructure, many localities also lack equipment to serve program production such as computers, microphones, recorders, data storage equipment and specialized software. The team in charge of grassroots broadcasting is mainly part-time, not well-trained in technology and digital technology application.
Based on actual needs, 95/99 communes and wards have proposed repairing, upgrading or investing in additional broadcasting systems. Localities proposed converting 2,119 FM speaker clusters to IT-VT application broadcasting systems; replacing 407 damaged equipment clusters; adding 903 new clusters and extending 4G SIM subscriptions for operation.
After reviewing, the Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism proposed an investment plan with a total budget of about 126.8 billion VND, lower than the initial proposal of 142.7 billion VND.
If implemented, 100% of communes and wards in Lao Cai province will be equipped with broadcasting systems applying IT-VT; about 99.8% of villages and residential groups will have at least one digital radio and television receiving cluster, except for areas without national grid electricity.
According to the Lao Cai Provincial Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism, the modernization of the grassroots broadcasting system not only overcomes the current degradation but also contributes to the effective implementation of digital transformation goals, building digital government, and improving the quality of information and propaganda, especially in remote and isolated areas and border areas.
