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| DG, NBC, Emeka Mba |
Towards achieving a comprehensive and hitch free digitalisation of Nigeria's TV stations from analog to the globally trending digital platform, the highly focused and visionary leadership of the National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) said yesterday in
Abuja that it would require about N68billion to accomplish the Digital Switch-Over
(DSO) as directed by the International Telecommunications Union (ITU).
It is
irrevocably committed to achieving the July 17th, 2015 deadline set by the
global telecoms body, the NBC said, at the well attended press conference.
Its amiable and cerebral Director General, Emeka Mba,
said the agency has put the necessary machinery in motion to achieve DSO for Nigeria, before the expiration date, so that any shortcomings would have been addressed
before the ITU’s deadline. He said Jos, the capital of Plateau State, has been chosen
to run the pilot of the project’s implementation expected to happen in June.
According to him, Jos
was chosen because it has the complements of a mixed bag of both private and
public broadcast stations that this will happen in June.
He said: ”Digital switchover is a
huge programme that requires a lot of funding. This perhaps explains the slow
speed of DSO in most African countries. “We are exploring creative ways of generating
the funds. We are looking at government, we are working towards raising funds
from the private sector too through licensing. We are also looking at getting a
portion of the funds that will come from the digital dividends expected to come
from freeing spectrum for telecoms.” The DG said DSO provides both challenges
and opportunities for players in the industry as, according to him, it will
send people who cannot think outside the box out of business while opening up
new vistas of business opportunities for the country.
He said DSO is a gradual process
that couldn’t be achieved overnight, adding that in the light of the huge
geographical spread of the country, satellite technology will inevitably be
used. Pursuant to this, he said the agency has started discussions with
NigComSat, Nigeria’s satellite firm, and other foreign satellite service
providers towards achieving a hitch free DOS. Read the full interview next week on this blog and Entertainment Express newspapers. It promises to be explosive
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