Nigeria to earn N380bn from digital broadcasting

He said this on Thursday in Abuja when speaking as a guest lecturer at the 3rd anniversary of NTA/Startimes TV joint venture in Nigeria.The world of broadcasting, under the auspices of the International Telecommunications Union  (ITU) has set 7th June 2015 as the final date for all Analogue Terrestrial Television Transmitters to be switched off […]

He said this on Thursday in Abuja when speaking as a guest lecturer at the 3rd anniversary of NTA/Startimes TV joint venture in Nigeria.
The world of broadcasting, under the auspices of the International Telecommunications Union  (ITU) has set 7th June 2015 as the final date for all Analogue Terrestrial Television Transmitters to be switched off and be replaced by Digital Transmitters.
The Federal Government has therefore set January 1st 2015 as its own date to migrate to digital broadcasting.
According to Egnr Amana who is a former director of Engineering at the NTA, the revenue would be possible from frequency sale in the spectrum that would have been freed up in digital broadcasting.
He said “the digital dividend – the spectrum gain after the transition can be used for mobile Broadband. This will enable broadband penetration into the rural areas, with its attendant benefits.
“Properly managed, the sale of this leftover spectrum by auction should yield    over $2 billion US dollars, over N308 billion.”
He said the digital dividend will generate thousands of jobs for the youth of Nigeria; “More channels of diverse programming, giving the viewer more choice, possibility of multi-lingual delivery of programmes and better quality pictures and sound.”
The Acting Director General of the Nigerian Television Authority (NTA) Musa B. Maiyaki said that the authority expects to fully digitalize its services by June 2014 ahead of the international requirement for 2015.
Mayaki, said so far NTA has digitalized in 32 states of the federation.
He said one frequency for over twenty channels over-stretches the capacity resulting in freezing of transmission.
The Director NTA-Star TV Network Ltd., Maxwell P. Loko said it is appropriate to work in order to drum mobile television and handset television in the StarTimes Network in the digital arena so as to celebrate the 3-year anniversary.