Digital migration: Consumers won't be affected - NCA

The National Communications Authority has indicated it is committed to championing the interest of consumers as the country migrates all television transmission from analogue to a digital platform by September 2017.

Although the infrastructure for some regions including the Greater Accra Region and the Ashanti Region are complete, the National Digital Broadcasting Migration Technical Committee is confident it will be done with the infrastructure needed to complete its target coverage of the country by October.

The committee made this known in a training conference held in Kumasi for media practitioners on the nuances and progress of the process which is on a parallel running stage in the country.

This forms part of the NCA’s ongoing public sensitization for the citizenry to either acquire digital televisions or buy set top boxes for their analogue television sets.

Speaking to Ultimate News on the side-lines of the media engagement, the Director of consumer and corporate affairs of the NCA Nana Defie Badu indicated that the authority is poised to ensure that the citizenry realize the full benefits of better television viewing experience.

“Because this is a major project which government is undertaking with the International Telecommunications Unit and it is going to affect the way Ghanaians watch TV, we have to make sure that consumers are educated to know what to do and the right equipment to buy so they are not disenfranchised by not watching TV when the final switch over is done,”

Elaborating on the benefits the migration will have for consumers she outlined, “There will be better clearer pictures, there will be better sound and consumers will get access to an electronic programming guide to read about what ever programs are on the channels available.”

She added that the digital regime will also have disability features including an audio description platform for the hearing impaired and a voiced facility to afford the visually impaired a better television experience.

Another benefit to the economy as a whole will be better internet broadband wireless services as internet providers can make use of the digital dividend freed up in the network spectrum hither to used by the analogue television lines.

Nana Defie Badu however indicated that the only cost to the consumer will be the purchasing of a standard definition, a high definition or an integrated division television to catch the digital signal. She was however quick to add that a simple certified set top box could also be fixed on an analogue television to transmit the digital feed into analogue signals without hustle.

Ultimate News also gathers that there are modalities being fashioned out by government to help poor households that cannot afford the set top boxes to take delivery of the devices for free.

Meanwhile the National Communications authority used the program to send a strong caution to electronic shops in the Ashanti region, that it will be coming after dealers in electronic products bringing in set top boxes that have not gone through receiver compliance certification and NCA logo embossments.

Head of engineering with the NCA, Edmond Fiankor stressed, “We have banned the importation of set top boxes that do not conform and we want the news to go out there that it is illegal to import set top boxes for terrestrial services without taking it through the receiver conformance certification processes of the NCA.”

He asked that people already purchasing the set top boxes should look out for a logo of a thumb embossed on it as certified by the Authority in order not to get short changed.