Ghana government says digital migration on course

Mr Edward Ato Sarpong, the Deputy Minister of Communications, has assured Ghanaians that the digital broadcasting migration is on course.

He said work on the installation of the Digital Terrestrial Television (DTT) network platform to deliver improved service to customers has commenced.

The Minister was briefing the media on the global deadline of June 17, 2015, for the digital broadcasting migration.

Ghana is a signatory to the Geneva 2006 agreement, which spells out a plan for DTT broadcasting in Europe, Africa and parts of the Middle East.

Mr Sarpong said Ghanaian company, K-Net Limited won the bid after going through the necessary processes to supply infrastructure for the migration.

He said the migration would be in three phases.

The first phase would cover Greater Accra and Ashanti Regions and is due to be completed in October 2015.

Mr Sarpong said the phase two would focus on Volta, Upper East, Upper West, and the Northern Regions and is expected to be completed in December 2015, whiles the rest of the regions would be completed in March, 2016.

He said at the end of March, 2016, both the analog and the digital TV would be in use for a year before the migration becomes fully operational.

Mr Akwasi Agyemang, the President of the Ghana Independent Broadcasting Association, said the initiative was welcoming and expressed satisfaction about the mutual cooperation with stakeholders, especially with the company winning the bid for the installation of the platform.

Representatives of the National Communications Authority, Ghana Broadcasting Corporation, National Media Commission were all part of the event.

Source: GNA