Ghana’s Minister of Communications, Mrs. Ursula Owusu-Ekuful, has announced that, starting next year, Ghana will commence its National Digital Terrestrial Television (DTT) Project, as part of its initiative in migrating from analogue to digital broadcast.
According to her, the Ministry had completed the provision of dedicated power to 37 DTT transmission sites in eight regions, with a team of NEDCO engineers and the suppliers, currently provisioning the dedicated electricity power into the transmitters to ensure the availability of digital broadcasting signals in the northern part of the country.
“All other sites have dedicated power and testing is ongoing and the switchover is scheduled to commence in the first quarter of next year,” she noted.
According to the her, there were pending applications for digital terrestrial television broadcasting authorisations in existing regions and the new regions to be created, which would also require localized channels on the platform.
She noted that, adequate capacity has to be provided to accommodate broadcasters that had secured premium content rights and wanted to transmit through the platform.
However, international broadcast companies such as France24, CNN, and others had also expressed interest in localizing their content on the DTT platform when capacity is available.
Meanwhile, the Communication Minister would next week, co-chair the European Union-Africa Union (EU-AU) Digital Economy Task Force with Mr. Pierre Guislan, Vice President of the African Development Bank.
The invitation to Ghana to co-chair the programme was in recognition of the Government’s digital agenda to drive economic growth.
She mentioned that government is committed to putting measures in place, to help the public and private sector scale up the uptake of technology at all levels to leapfrog the country’s development.
By:StephanieHorsu/techvoiceafrica.com
