Over 80% of Nigeria’s population will be able to receive free-to-air (FTA) digital terrestrial television (DTT) services before the 20 June 2017 deadline, according to the National Broadcasting Commission (NBC).
NBC’s director general, Emeka Mba, said the country failed to meet the June 2017 global deadline for analogue switch-off set by the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) largely because a lack of funding. However, this, he said, has led Nigeria to seize the initiative by working with neighbours in the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS).
“ECOWAS are also looking up to us for leadership and partnership and we have agreed on a new Digital Switch Over (DSO) deadline of June 20, 2017.
“We in Nigeria are working day and night to meet this new deadline,” Emeka Mba is reported as saying in Premium Times. “Our target is that by that date, more than 80% of Nigerians that depend on free-to-air television services are given adequate coverage before the final switchover.
“We cannot afford to leave anyone behind. Indeed, we are not leaving anyone behind,” Mba added.
The commission’s pilot state, Plateau, has now achieved full DTT signal coverage, he said, however the majority of people there who receive free-to-air broadcasts are still receiving analogue signals on TV sets that are as yet unable to receive digital signals.
Set-top boxes (STBs) are required to receive digital TV transmissions, and the NBC says it is now working with 18 Nigerian companies to start local STB production. The policy, the commission claims, will provide both the necessary technology and local employment, however the first batch of STBs are being imported from overseas to prevent further delay, says Mba.
As well as being close to DTT deployment in Plateau State, the commission is encouraging the development of DTT services by the pay-TV operators, which are now available in 32 cities across Nigeria.
NBC will start a public service campaign to further inform the public about the digital switchover in Nigeria.