Mozambique: Government Studying Digital Transition

Maputo — The Mozambican government is studying the best options for digital broadcasting which must be adopted by 2015.

 

Members of the International Telecommunications Union (ITU), including Mozambique, pledged in 2006 to phase analogue broadcasting systems and replace them with digital radio and television.

 

But only now, four years later, is the government speaking publicly about the matter. A Cabinet meeting held on Tuesday heard a report on the measures being taken for the migration from analogue to digital systems. According to the government spokesperson, Deputy Foreign Minister Henrique Banze, this was a preliminary report indicating the steps that should be taken up to 2015.

 

"The government and the sectors involved will study the best options, because there are several alternatives on the table", said Banze. "There are the systems most used in Europe, but others in the Americas and in Japan. The government has to study them to see which would be most appropriate for Mozambique".

 

Furthermore, he added, "there must be a convergence of systems within SADC (Southern African Development Community) and so the matter must be studied in a coordinated way".

 

Banze did not state what deadlines the government is working with for importing the required technology, but insisted "we believe that the country will reach the target, and that in 2015 we shall be functioning in the way agreed. The work on now is to guarantee that everything is done in good time".

 

He brushed aside claims that Mozambique is "very late" in dealing with this matter. Perhaps it was not dealt with earlier because there were "other priorities", he added. The government thought that now was "the opportune moment" for handling this issue.

 

Radio and television companies have already been discussing how to handle the transition from analogue to digital. They point out that broadcasters can share infrastructures, since a single transmitter can carry eight channels, and it would be very expensive if every radio and television operator in the country set out to purchase their own new equipment.

 

Thus an independent operator could manage the technical side of a digital network, while the radio and television companies provided the content.

 

Last year, Americo Muchanga, director of planning at Maputo's Eduardo Mondlane University, warned that the government should take serious measures to guarantee a successful transition to digital. One such measure would be to reduce the cost of converters, by subsidizing the import of this equipment or exempting it from taxes.

 

"The cost of acquiring the equipment will determine the success of the process", said Muchanga. "If the cost is high, the process will be slow. So we must see how the state can make this equipment accessible".

 

 

Most Mozambican citizens are not yet aware of the transition from analogue to digital broadcasting, and the risk is that they will be unprepared in 2015, and will suddenly lose access to all broadcast information. For the radio and television sets that citizens already possess will be useless unless attached to a converter. According to figures given last year, the conversion device for television costs 80 US dollars, and for radios 120 dollars (which rural households may find very difficult to pay). The alternative is to buy a digital TV set, which costs more than 2,000 dollars.

 

Countries that are already making the transition are now exporting analog equipment cheaply to Africa. A plasma TV used to cost over 1,000 dollars, but can now be picked up for around 300. But without a converter it will not work from 2015 onwards.

 

The advantages of digitalisation for television lie in a better quality of image and sound and the elimination of background noise. For radio, many more stations will able to use the frequencies available.

 

The State's role is to ensure that Mozambican citizens can benefit from these changes and do not lose access to radio and television.

 

 

- March 04, 2010 by Agencia de Informacao de Mocambique

 

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Source: allafrica.com/stories/201003040903.html (accessed on 04.03.2010)