Lagos to transit from analogue to digital broadcasting April 29- NBC DG
Prof. Armstrong Idachaba, acting director-general of the National Broadcasting Commission (NBC), has commended ITS Ltd and their partners, StarTimes, for putting in place the required transmitters, in preparation to fully transit Lagos from analogue to digital terrestrial broadcasting on April 29.
Idachaba, who was speaking after an inspection tour of digital transmitters at NTA Station, Channel 10, Tejuosho, Lagos, over the weekend, said that the country hopes to have completed the digital rollout by 2022.
The NBC boss said: “Nigeria has taken a decision that we are continuing with the transition from analogue to digital broadcasting. The journey practically began in 2016 with the pilot rollout in Jos. And a few years after, we have gone into phase two. Under phase two, Lagos, Port Harcourt and other cities will be switched on to digital TV. We are going to many other cities and following the rollout time table, we hope that by the end of 2022, we would have completed the digital rollout in Nigeria.
“This visit to the NTA premises in Tejuosho is in furtherance of this objective. We are glad that ITS Ltd has already installed DVB2 technology. We have seen that the installed capacity for DTT transmission is very high. I acknowledge the role of their partners, StarTimes and I think that between NTA and StarTimes, there is a great combined effort to ensure that the rollout happens in Lagos and other cities in Nigeria quickly.
“This inspection is reassuring. It means that we have the technical and infrastructural capabilities and are ready to kick off in Lagos on April 29.”
On his part, Alex Jian, acting CEO, NTA-Star TV Network, said the company’s technical team is ready to support the nation in transiting fully to digital TV.
“The NBC DG has a big strategy for DSO and NTA-StarTimes will cooperate very well with ITS Ltd to support this project. Our technical team is ready. We have already prepared ourselves for this switch over all over the country.”