NCA develops standards for TV sets

The National Communications Authority (NCA) has developed minimum specifications for set-top boxes and television sets as government pushes to ensure that the nation migrates from analogue to digital broadcasting.

Ghana as a member of the International Telecommunications Union’s Geneva 2006 Agreement, committed to migrate towards digital broadcasting which started in June 17, 2006 and was expected to end by June 17, 2015.

Mr William Tevie, Director-General of NCA, said at a digital terrestrial media resource training that Ghana and some countries preferred an additional five-year extension, a timeline the authority is working to meet.

The NCA, he said, has been working with the digital broadcasting migration Committee and the Ghana Standards Authority to come up with acceptable canons for set-top boxes and television sets in the country.

“The minimum specifications have been developed because the free to air terrestrial television stations with licenses will migrate their transmissions from analogue to a digital platform,” he said.

The objective, Mr Tevie noted, is to ensure Digital Terrestrial Television (DTT) receivers get good quality video and sound and guarantee the lowest cost for the free-to-air receiver while maintaining low maintenance unit providing functionality.

Mr Tevie also said in order to ensure that DTT receivers sold on the Ghanaian market conform to acceptable standards, the NCA has published standards for the receivers.

The set-top boxes and integrated digital television sets ought to pass a test to be certified to use a receiver logo, and the logo will confirm to consumers that the receiver is Ghana DTT compliant, he said.

He said the Authority has trained some staff who will be spokespersons for the NCA during a roll out public campaign, hence the need to organise the media resource training to help champion the course.

“We know that this training workshop is a significant step towards guaranteeing that consumers know what to expect as Ghana migrates to the digital platform,” he said.

Ghana committed $82.3 million in a contract with K-Net Limited in July 2015 to deliver transmission network in 42 sites with two transmitters per site.

The deal is expected to cover 89 per cent of the land area and 95 per cent of the population when the DTT is completed.

The NCA says it has rolled out activities to be executed in three phases to be completed in August 2016.

Source: GNA