Over one year after the expiration of
the deadline set for the switch over from analogue to digital
terrestrial television, about 31 million television sets in homes in
Nigeria are still unconnected, findings by FUTURE BRIGHT BLOG have shown.
The June 17, 2015 deadline for the
switching off of analogue television broadcasting in the Ultra High
Frequency band was set by the International Telecommunications Union
member-states at the Regional Radio Communication Conference in 2006.
Nigeria is a signatory to the GE06 regional agreement.
Findings showed that several countries,
which were party to the GE06 agreement, and others that were not, had
switched over to digital terrestrial television.
However, some countries have yet to make the transition. .
The ITU gave availability of funds as
one of the conditions for switching over. Nigeria has asked for an
extension, with a new focus on December 2017.
However, with just 17 months to the
December 2017 extension requested by the Federal Government, findings
have shown that about 31 million homes are still unconnected.
The satellite provider, SES, told our
correspondent on Friday that that it had reached only 2.81 million out
of a total 33.9 million homes in Nigeria, leaving a shortfall of about
31 million homes unreached.
The firm said it came about the
statistics after its first Satellite Monitor study in the Nigerian
market, “which provides insight on the important role SES plays in the
growth of the satellite television reach in the country.”
“The study highlights that SES reaches
2.81 million TV homes across the country, of which 1.69 million are
reached directly by SES satellites, while 1.12 million cable TV homes
are fed indirectly by the SES fleet,” the General Manager, North, West
and Central Africa at SES, Eric Lecocq, said.
He said, “In total, there are 33.9
million TV homes in Nigeria, with 8.98 million of them being served by
satellites directly and the rest by terrestrial and cable networks.
“The SES has increased their technical
reach in sub-Saharan Africa from one million TV households in 2013 to
eight million TV households by the end of 2015. The technical reach of
1.69 million TV households in Nigeria contributes to this increase.”
Lecocq, however, said that SES was
committed to helping economic and sustainable growth in Nigeria and
accelerating the digital switchover process.
He said, “We aim to connect the entire
Nigerian population with our satellites, by developing the broadcasting
landscape in partnership with our local partners and in close
coordination with broadcasters.
“We conducted the study because we saw a
gap and a need for such information to be available and easily
accessible in the country.”
According to him, the findings provide
credible industry statistics on the market that can be used by other
industry players to further understand the broadcasting landscape and
the role of satellite infrastructure.
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