Digital TV migration process starts next month

Story: Charles Benoni Okine, Johannesburg; Courtesy Multichoice.

Ghana’s migration from the analogue to the digital terrestrial television system will begin from next month to enable the country to meet a deadline of the end of 2014, the Minister of Communications, Mr Haruna Iddrisu, has disclosed.

Consequently, he said a Chinese company, after a competitive bidding process, has been selected to undertake the digital migration process which involves design and construction of “a reliable cost effective, energy efficient infrastructure system that will lead to improvement in picture quality and make us benefit from spectrum dividend at a total cost of $95 million”.

In an interview in Johannesburg, South Africa, Mr Iddrisu said “the project was advertised and in this case, the lowest bidder won and the company will help raise the money for the project from Exim China but I must also mention that the company will also provide initial funding on its own as they look for finance options for the project”.

The Minister was in Johannesburg at the invitation of Multichoice Africa to visit its facilities and to enable him to appreciate digital television broadcast and all that goes into it.

He was accompanied by Mr Cecil Sunkwa-Mills, General Manager of Multichoice Ghana and Mr Henry A. Kunor, Director, Engineering of the NCA.

Mr Iddrisu said Accra and Kumasi will be the first to benefit for the migration which will be a pilot before the entire country is fully connected before the deadline.

Ghana signed the Geneva 2006 (GE06) Agreement, establishing the Digital Terrestrial Broadcasting Plan in the bands 174 – 230 MHz and 470 – 862 MHz at the Regional Radiocommunications Conference (RRC-06). The Agreement set 17 June 2015 as the deadline for the cessation of international protection for analogue broadcasting transmissions in the said bands.

In a bid to ensure Ghana’s conformance to the GE06 Agreement, the Minister of Communications, Mr Iddrisu, on 13^th January, 2010 inaugurated a 26 member National Digital Broadcasting Migration Technical Committee to among other things; make policy recommendations to the government to enable Ghana achieve a cost effective and timely migration from analogue to digital broadcasting.

The migration from analogue to digital television broadcasting is expected to have an impact on almost every citizen of this country considering the pervasiveness of television access and the reliance of the populace on TV for information dissemination, education and entertainment.

Compared with terrestrial analogue television, digital terrestrial television (DTT) offers an improved spectrum efficiency which can be used to provide a variety of new service that include mobility, interactivity, high-definition TV, enhanced video and audio quality as well as increased programme choice.

Mr Iddrisu said the National Communications Authority (NCA), has been forthwith, directed to start an intensive education process to enable Ghanaians to understand and appreciate the dynamics of the migration.

With this, he said they will be in a position to appreciate that with digital television they will be to “access quality sound; quality pictures and be able to access the internet and download data among others”.

Mr Iddrisu said “We have appreciated the Multichoice systems and hope that when the migration process is completed even Parliament will have its own channel to broadcast its proceedings and any other event”.

“W are also in discussion with industry players; The Ghana Independent Broadcastors Association (GIBA) and Ghana Broadcasting Corporantion (GBC) to establish a public private partnership in terms of ownership of the transmission sites which will accommodate proportional contribution by both players “, he said.

Meanwhile, he stated that, the contribution of state will be the contribution for GBC.

The Communications Minister further mentioned what he described as the delicate matter of who pays for the DTT.

“We will also manage the delicate issue of set-up boxes and the issue of affordability based on the experience we have from Multichoice”, he said.

He admitted that “it may come at a cost to the Ghanaian consumer and subscriber and the government has to subside to make it increasingly available, accessible and affordable”.

Mr Iddrisu gave the assurance that “we will take the education process seriously to ensure that the people fully buy into it and see its benefits and we strongly believe that we will be successful”.

He also noted that the president directed that the ministry should develop the National Data Center; get the commencement of work on the DTT and facilitate the laying of fibre optics from Ho to Nakpaduri area and we expect to start work on that by the end of this month.

“We will also kick start the national fibre connectivity in the eastern corridor which will not only provide for redundancy but serve the land lock countries of Togo and Burkina and the nation in future”, he said.