Nigeria: 2015 - Fear Over Transition From Analogue to Digital Transmission

Apart from general elections, there is an im portant issue which should engage the attention of Nigerians as the count down to 2015 gathers momentum: It is a paradigm shift in the area of transmission technology.

By June 2015, most Nigerians who are on analogue television receivers will no longer receive signals on their television sets as broadcasting stations will be transmitting on digital.

At the International Telecommunications Union, ITU, conference held in Geneva, Switzerland in 2006, a total of 123 countries, including Nigeria, signed a treaty which set a June 17, 2015 deadline for African, European and Middle Eastern countries to migrate from analogue to digital television. This date is generally viewed as an internationally mandated analogue switch-off date.

Digital migration is the process of converting television broadcast signals from the current analogue format to digital technology. It is also called the digital switchover or analogue switch-off. This migration became necessary as a result of developments in technology which enable more efficient use of radio frequency spectrum as well as better quality pictures and sound.

While some countries like UK, India, China are implementing the process of switchover, setting up separate dates for each region to switch off accordingly in order to meet up with the ITU directive, Netherlands switched off all analogue services on December 11, 2006.

With this order from the ITU, it has become imperative for Nigeria and other countries in their category to join others that have already concluded their switchover process to avoid signal interference between digital and analogue, from country to country by the year 2015.

The implication of this new development is that Nigerians could be cut off from the international scene by international bodies if Nigeria fails to meet up with the 2015 deadline as set up by the ITU, since it will be practically impossible to stream digital contents to the country which may still be on analogue.

The digital switchover to an average Nigerian seems not to be an issue in focus now. According to Mr Ike Okorie, a banker, this digital switchover can only be an issue if it will help politicians in winning elections in 2015. "An issue such as digital transmission switchover cannot be in the agenda of our government now".