HakiPensheni

WITH the progress registered by Tanzania in digital broadcasting, several member states of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) are eager to learn on how they can successfully roll out the technology in their countries.

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Tanzania is among three countries in Sub-Saharan Africa, with the exception of South Africa, which have managed to fully switch-off analogue transmitters and migrated to digital terrestrial broadcasting.

It is on this backdrop that Dar es Salaam is hosting a two-day 13th SADC Digital Broadcasting Migration Forum, which started yesterday and set to end today. The meeting is held under the theme; “Digital Broadcasting Dynamics; Building a sustainable future.”

The last analogue transmitter in the country was put off on April 30, this year, beating a deadline set by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) on June 17, this year.

“The success wouldn’t have been possible without harmonized strategies and collaboration with our partner states in SADC and East African Community,” the Permanent Secretary (PS) in the Ministry of Communication, Science and Technology, Dr Yamungu Kayandabila, remarked.

Officiating at the forum yesterday, Dr Kayandabila pointed, however, that the government still have a great task of expanding the digital broadcasting footprint given the vastness of Tanzania.

Earlier, the Director General of the Tanzania Communications Regulatory Authority (TCRA), Dr Ally Simba, said there were still a number of operational challenges facing the system.

“High transmission fees coupled with high cost of decoders which are currently selling for between US $50 and US $70 dollars as well as interoperability of devices,” the TCRA boss explained.

Adding; “It is my hope that this forum will deliberate on these and various other challenges of digital broadcasting and suggest solutions and way forward.”

A representative from Botswana, Mr Delight Thebeestsile, hailed Tanzania for the progress it has made in the migration. He went to point that digital migration is a revolution and challenge which all countries must tackle.