AIR streaming services launched on Amazon Alexa smart speakers

The All India Radio Friday launched its streaming services on e-commerce platform Amazon's voice-controlled smart speakers in a bid to expand its global footprint.

Vividh Bharati and 14 other regional language services of the All India Radio (AIR) will be streamed on Amazon Alexa. AIR's archival assets will also be made available on the device in the near future, an official statement said.

Launching the services, Information and Broadcasting Minister Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore said services such as Amazon Alexa have eased the lives of people.

The launch of AIR's streaming services would be a synergy of old and modern forms of communication, he said.

Rathore also said this initiative will benefit the Indian diaspora around the world.

Now, anyone from any part of the world can listen to the programmes of the AIR, he said.

Chairman Prasar Bharati A Surya Prakash, CEO Prasar Bharati Shashi Shekhar Vempati, Rajiv Sawhney, Principal Tech Business Development, Amazon Alexa (Asia), and senior officials of the ministry were also present at the event.

Sawhney said voice is the future of communication with the devices around us.

He said already 390 million people around the world are using voice-based communication and this would almost triple to 1.83 billion people in the next three years.