Several African countries may not meet the June 17, 2015 deadline to switch-over from analogue to digital television broadcasting as a result of insufficient funding and poor infrastructure.
Telecommunication experts at the 5th African Digitalisation Seminar in Tianjin- Beijing, China on Friday agreed that unless there was a miracle, only four African countries out of 54 would meet the June 17 switch-over date, just few days away.
Dr Xinxing Wang, Chairman of StarTimes, the organiser of the seminar, titled: “The Challenges of Digitalisation Project in Africa,” said it was a huge challenge financially that would affect the switch-over date.
Although, Wang pledged assistance of the Chinese Government, but added that African countries should be ready to embrace Public-Private Partnership (PPP) in the project to speed up the programme.
“There are a lot of benefits from analogue to digital; it can create huge opportunities for business between China investors and African countries.
“The PPP model will enable all stakeholders to achieve a win-win situation in the broadcast industry and also promote cultural exchanges between China and African countries.
“We are aware that there are challenges facing this project in Africa, China is willing to assist. For instance, in Africa, Nigeria is StarTimes biggest market; we are working with Nigerian Television Authority (NTA), the largest network in Africa.
“We want to have more strategic partners in Africa so that we can produce more programmes in African language like Swahili, Hausa, Yoruba and Ibo language.
“Our projection is that at the end of this year, we will cover 45 African countries.’’
Wang said that to meet the above challenges, African countries should be able to choose combinations that were cost effective to meet the huge financial responsibility.
“StarTimes will assist in funding the project in a joint venture and will propose a financial proposal that will include exclusive rights and training need of employees,’’ he promised.
The Director-General of the NTA, Mr Sola Omole, said that the project started well in Nigeria, but soon lost steam to political activities.
“We made good progress with the support of StarTimes, but we lost the momentum to politics and it suffered poor funding.
“We are not ready for the switch and the structure on ground does not support it,” he said.
Also speaking, a telecommunication analyst, Michael Dearham, who is also the Vice President of StarTimes, said African countries need to make careful analysis in choosing an encoding method in order save cost.
He stressed the need to speed up the digitalisation process by making it a priority, as it would guarantee more transmission, including quality programmes.
A representative of Guinea, Mrs Helen Manuzi, commended StarTimes for boosting the development of communication in many African countries.
Manuzi charged African countries to do everything possible to meet the deadline in inter-connectivity, as China was willing to assist.
Also speaking, Zambia Minister of Communication, who was represented by Dr Peter Ignius, said the seminar provided a platform for African countries to assess various levels and compare notes in the digitalisation process.
He said the seminar was timely as it was being held few days to the deadline, adding that “it is obvious that so many African countries cannot meet the deadline for various reasons.
“In Zambia, we have just completed phase one which may amount to 60 per cent completion.
“Zambia is ready to learn from China and also seek for assistance in completing the project.
“The synergy between China and Africa through media cooperation has continued to bring the two countries closer in so many areas,’’ he said.
A representative of Kenyan Government, Mr Joseph Ubamta said the delay in migration in Kenya was due to the litigation which had slowed down the roll out of the digital signal.
He, however, said that the legal issue has been resolved and that the project was 58 per cent completed enough to guarantee the June switch- over deadline.
Dr Fenella Mukangara,Tanzania’s Minister of Information and Communication, Youths and Sports, said Tanzania had made good progress since 2006 when the decision was taken by the International Television Union (ITU).
According to her, Tanzania is 100 per cent ready to meet the deadline as everything is in place and we successfully migrated in 2012.
“Our infrastructure is in place, the Digital Terrestrial Television (DTT) all in place and China has been most supportive.
“Our network has increased and the coverage area extends to Kenya, Uganda, Lesotho, Zimbabwe, Malawi and Namibia,’’ she said.
Over 50 African representatives, including African media representatives, attended the programme.
