By Fred SARPONG
The National Communications Authority (NCA), the regulator of the telecommunications industry, is expected to issue new licenses for television, including digital television, and existing licenses are to be renewed.
BusinessWeek learnt that this is subject to the payment of appropriate fees and meeting other technical requirements that the NCA may determine.
The Ministry of Communications has announced that issuance of digital broadcasting licenses will begin in March, this year.
This follows Cabinet’s approval of recommendations of a technical committee that was set up to facilitate Ghana’s migration from analogue to digital broadcasting.
According to the ministry, a national digital migration implementation body will be set up by the end of this month to facilitate a cost-effective and timely migration from analogue to digital broadcasting within a space of three years.
The Minster of Communications, Haruna Iddrisu, said the government is hoping to complete the migration by 2014, a year before the international deadline for digital broadcast migration.
Iddrisu also stated that his outfit will begin the construction of transmitters across the country, especially in the regional and urban areas, “so that Ghana could complete the process by the end of 2014, one year ahead of the international telecoms deadline of 2015.”
The minister also indicated government’s preparedness to prevent the dumping of analogue components from other countries.
He said they have made a passionate appeal to the international community not to make Ghana a dumping ground for electronic waste.
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) in 2006.
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 conformity to the GE06 Agreement, Iddrisu, on January 12, 2010 inaugurated a 26-member National Digital Broadcasting Migration Technical Committee (“the Committee”) to, among others, make policy recommendations to the government to enable Ghana to achieve a cost effective and timely migration from analogue to digital broadcasting.
The committee, under the leadership of the NCA, comprised representatives of all stakeholder ministries, departments and agencies of government, industry players and educational institutions.
The committee held several meetings, workshops, stakeholder engagements, presentations from equipment and technology vendors, press engagements among others.
The migration from analogue to digital television broadcasting would most likely have an impact on almost every citizen of this country considering the pervasiveness of terrestrial TV.
It is therefore important that the migration is properly managed to ensure that every Ghanaian who watches TV today is able to continue watching TV in the digital domain.
Digital terrestrial television (DTT) offers improved spectrum efficiency compared to analogue TV. It also offers enhanced video and audio quality, interactivity, as well as increased programme choices.
The National Communications Authority (NCA), the regulator of the telecommunications industry, is expected to issue new licenses for television, including digital television, and existing licenses are to be renewed.
BusinessWeek learnt that this is subject to the payment of appropriate fees and meeting other technical requirements that the NCA may determine.
The Ministry of Communications has announced that issuance of digital broadcasting licenses will begin in March, this year.
This follows Cabinet’s approval of recommendations of a technical committee that was set up to facilitate Ghana’s migration from analogue to digital broadcasting.
According to the ministry, a national digital migration implementation body will be set up by the end of this month to facilitate a cost-effective and timely migration from analogue to digital broadcasting within a space of three years.
The Minster of Communications, Haruna Iddrisu, said the government is hoping to complete the migration by 2014, a year before the international deadline for digital broadcast migration.
Iddrisu also stated that his outfit will begin the construction of transmitters across the country, especially in the regional and urban areas, “so that Ghana could complete the process by the end of 2014, one year ahead of the international telecoms deadline of 2015.”
The minister also indicated government’s preparedness to prevent the dumping of analogue components from other countries.
He said they have made a passionate appeal to the international community not to make Ghana a dumping ground for electronic waste.
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) in 2006.
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 conformity to the GE06 Agreement, Iddrisu, on January 12, 2010 inaugurated a 26-member National Digital Broadcasting Migration Technical Committee (“the Committee”) to, among others, make policy recommendations to the government to enable Ghana to achieve a cost effective and timely migration from analogue to digital broadcasting.
The committee, under the leadership of the NCA, comprised representatives of all stakeholder ministries, departments and agencies of government, industry players and educational institutions.
The committee held several meetings, workshops, stakeholder engagements, presentations from equipment and technology vendors, press engagements among others.
The migration from analogue to digital television broadcasting would most likely have an impact on almost every citizen of this country considering the pervasiveness of terrestrial TV.
It is therefore important that the migration is properly managed to ensure that every Ghanaian who watches TV today is able to continue watching TV in the digital domain.
Digital terrestrial television (DTT) offers improved spectrum efficiency compared to analogue TV. It also offers enhanced video and audio quality, interactivity, as well as increased programme choices.
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