§ Mr. Ridsdaleasked the Postmaster-General whether he will make a further statement about the system of modulation for V.H.F. international maritime radio services.
Dr. HillWe have consulted other maritime countries in Europe and the Commonwealth, and they agree that, in the interests of world-wide standardisation, the present system of amplitude modulation in the V.H.F. maritime services should be changed to one of frequency modulation. The latter system is already the standard in North and South America, by international agreement. The great majority of the interested parties in this country, including all the shipping interests, are also prepared, for the same reason, to accept a change to frequency modulation. It is accordingly the Government's intention that the United Kingdom should adopt frequency modulation for these services. The change will be made gradually over a period of years.