Deputy Minister of Transport and Communications, Manuela Rebelo, has revealed that analogue television signals will not be switched off in June 2015 as completing the transition to digital will be impossible by then.
“The government accepts that it will not be possible to comply with the deadline for ending analogue broadcasts. So we are informing all Mozambicans that here will be no black-out of analogue signals after June,” this is according to a report revealed by rapidtvnews.
According to the report, Rebelo added that despite the International Telecommunications Union’s universal digital migration deadline, switching off the analogue signal was “a sovereign decision” for Mozambique.
The funding procedure by the Exim Bank of China, with whom the government in 2014 signed a US$223 million agreement for the provision of digital transmission equipment, has been delayed – and in turn delayed the implementation of digital terrestrial television (DTT) in Mozambique, Rebelo stated according to the report.
Eight new digital transmitters will be acquired by public broadcaster Mozambique Television (TVM) by October to help mitigate interference from neighbouring countries’ DTT transmissions, Rebelo added.
Mozambique has signed agreements with South Africa and Malawi to avoid the risk of cross border interference, in line with recommendations by the Executive Secretariat of the Southern African Development Community (SADC).
Staff Writer
