Digital television migration is right on course in Kenya and the rest of Africa

The attention of the Communications Authority of Kenya has been drawn to an article appearing in Daily Nation of October 2, 2014, penned by the Editor of Mail & Guardian Africa, Mr Charles Onyango-Obbo titled “Kenya’s digital TV migration: These days, empty-handed people don’t win”.

While acknowledging that Kenya has no choice but to transition to digital TV broadcasting, the article subtly casts aspersions on the ability of the country to meet the June 2015 global deadline for analogue switch-off, a fate that other 42 African countries are allegedly staring at.

The facts on the ground are different. It is true many African countries have not yet migrated to the digital platform, but that does not mean they will not meet the deadline.

In fact, all the regions of the continent have made significant steps towards digital migration to beat the International Telecommunication Union’s deadline.

Even for the Kenyan situation, it isn’t correct to say we will miss the deadline. Indeed, the court ruling on the case relating to digital migration this week heralded the final preparations for the eventual switchover.

As of now, 60 per cent of the country is already covered by digital signal from the two licensed signal distributors.

The case challenging digital migration had greatly slowed down the rollout to the remaining parts of the country. The expectations are that with this behind us, much of the other areas will be accessed through digital signal.

In total, the digital signal in the country is now three per cent more widespread than the analogue one. Actually, the digital signal covers a number of areas that had never known any TV signal presence at all. This, therefore, negates the notion that Kenya is running behind in digital migration.

ONLY SETBACK

The only setback to the progress in the migration process is the fact that a section of media houses have been opposed to it and have engaged in numerous ligations to stop it.

One would want to believe that now, with the Supreme Court ruling, the spirit of a smooth transition to the digital TV platform will be supported by all players, and that all tangible elements that form opposition to it will be objectively brought out and resolved.

Another round of circular arguments that only leads to stalling the process is not the way to go, even if anyone thinks buying time before the eventual switchover is of any business advantage. This is more so given that we all agree that digital transition is a reality being awaited; and the deadline is in less than a year.

Ironically, the media have been part of the Digital Television Committee that was set up in 2008 and that has been making decisions on digital migration. Others in the committee are representatives from the government, the CAK, and civil society.

Some of the key decisions made by this committee include those on digital broadcasting standards, signal distribution and consumer related issues. Consequently, on the recommendations of this committee, Kenya adopted DVB T2 MPEG 4 video compression standard, and initiated the licensing process for two broadcast signal distributors.

With regard to the status of migration in Africa, all countries affected by the June 2015 migration deadline are in various stages of preparations for the switchover, and so far, none has expressed any inability to shift.

Indeed, eight out of 10 South African Development Countries (SADC) member states have announced their readiness to migrate. In the East African region, Tanzania and Rwanda have already successfully migrated to digital TV broadcasting. Uganda is also poised to join the digital space soon, as preparations for the switchover are already at an advanced stage.

West African countries are also gearing up to move more quickly to meet the 2015 digital migration deadline by coordinating decisions on technology purchase and specifications.

As part of the effort to expedite migration, 14 ICT ministers from the Ecowas region last year adopted a common implementation plan for digital migration. It is thus clear many African countries will meet the deadline.

Assertions in Mr Onyango-Obbo’s article that painted the process as unsuccessful are, therefore, not founded on facts. One only hopes there will be meaningful commitment from all parties to iron out divergent positions so as to move the migration process forward, and with speed.

Mr Muthusi is the director of Consumer and Public Affairs at the Communications Authority of Kenya ([email protected]).