News / National
Zimbabwe to miss SADC TV and Radio digitalisation deadline
25 Jul 2011 at 04:47hrs | Views
Zimbabwe looks increasingly likely to miss a Southern Africa Development Community (SADC) 2013 deadline to digitalise its radio and television services, Zimbabwean news agency, New Ziana, reported quoting an official as saying on Sunday.
Broadcasting Authority of Zimbabwe (BAZ) chief executive officer Obert Muganyura said Zimbabwe was lagging far behind other countries because of lack of government funding for the project, he said this when he announced that Beitbridge is set to have TV and radio signal by next month.
At least US$15 million is required for the full switch over from analogue to digital services. But the Ministry of Finance did not provide even a penny for the project in this year's national budget.
The 14-member group has agreed to migrate from analogue to digital radio and television services to improve quality, among other benefits. Muganyura said in the SADC region, Zimbabwe was the only country that was yet to start the digitalisation.
"Tanzania, Botswana and Mauritius have fully digitalised....Zambia, Mozambique and Namibia are conducting trials, while South Africa is now at 63 percent," he said.
He said besides the digitalization deadline, the authority was battling to keep the existing analogue stations operational.
"We are supposed to have 24 other stations in the digitalisation era but we have not started installing even one and we are left with one year," he said.
By failing to switch from analogue to digital broadcast, he said, Zimbabwe risks heavy penalties from the International Telecommunications Union (ITU).
Muganyura said non- compliance meant the country would not receive protection from the ITU.
"The country will also suffer from interference from neighboring countries with stronger signals," he said.
Apart from it being a legal requirement to digitalize, Muganyura said the country is using 'sunset technology'.
He said BAZ was already facing problems in getting spare parts for the analogue broadcasting equipment as it was outdated.
"No companies are still manufacturing the type of equipment we are still using," he said.
The process of switching from analogue to digital broadcasting was set in 2000 by the ITU and 2015 was agreed as an international migration deadline.
SADC member states set 2013 as their deadline to ensure that all related challenges are overcome before the global cut off date.
Broadcasting Authority of Zimbabwe (BAZ) chief executive officer Obert Muganyura said Zimbabwe was lagging far behind other countries because of lack of government funding for the project, he said this when he announced that Beitbridge is set to have TV and radio signal by next month.
At least US$15 million is required for the full switch over from analogue to digital services. But the Ministry of Finance did not provide even a penny for the project in this year's national budget.
The 14-member group has agreed to migrate from analogue to digital radio and television services to improve quality, among other benefits. Muganyura said in the SADC region, Zimbabwe was the only country that was yet to start the digitalisation.
"Tanzania, Botswana and Mauritius have fully digitalised....Zambia, Mozambique and Namibia are conducting trials, while South Africa is now at 63 percent," he said.
He said besides the digitalization deadline, the authority was battling to keep the existing analogue stations operational.
"We are supposed to have 24 other stations in the digitalisation era but we have not started installing even one and we are left with one year," he said.
Muganyura said non- compliance meant the country would not receive protection from the ITU.
"The country will also suffer from interference from neighboring countries with stronger signals," he said.
Apart from it being a legal requirement to digitalize, Muganyura said the country is using 'sunset technology'.
He said BAZ was already facing problems in getting spare parts for the analogue broadcasting equipment as it was outdated.
"No companies are still manufacturing the type of equipment we are still using," he said.
The process of switching from analogue to digital broadcasting was set in 2000 by the ITU and 2015 was agreed as an international migration deadline.
SADC member states set 2013 as their deadline to ensure that all related challenges are overcome before the global cut off date.
Source - The New Ziana
