Africa tv, radio urged to embrace digitalisation

AFRICA’S seventh biennial conference on broadcasting (AFRICAST) has challenged radio and television stations to embrace digitalisation to improve efficiency in the sector.

About 300 delegates from 36 African countries attended the conference aimed at addressing broadcasting challenges the continent is faced with.

The International Telecommunications Union (ITU) has set a deadline of 2015 for all its members to implement the new digitalisation technology.

Although the majority of participants felt the deadline was not far enough, they expressed determination in embarking on the digitalisation process that would allow broadcasters to switch from analogue to digital, making the flow of information faster.

Apart from African participants, the AFRICAST conference was attended by broadcasting experts from as far as America, Asia, Europe and the Far East, in an attempt to share ideas.

Several speakers, the majority of them from Nigeria, South Africa, Egypt, Ghana, Kenya, Botswana, Zambia and Tanzania, encouraged the continent to share information and expertise.

Most European and American television channels have switched from analogue to the efficient and more reliable digitalisation.

OKORO CHINEDU in Lagos, Nigeria