Matters Arising: Nigeria’s digital switch over

Nigeria is fast approaching the deadline of June 17 2017 set by International Telecommunications Union (ITU) after missing the initial digital transition deadlines. In view of this development, Tony Nwakaegho who has been monitoring the transition process summed it up with some matters arising in this transitional journey from analogue to Digital Terrestrial Television, (DTT).

As the June 17 deadline to the digital switch over (DSO) draws near, the National Assembly thought it expedient and held a public hearing recently, to ensure that the deadline for the DSO will be achieved and the process guaranteed with quality and cost effective services to Nigerians.

The Speaker House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara, represented by Chief Whip, Alhassan Ado Doguwa, said at the hearing that the National Assembly will not condone exploitation of Nigerians as the country transits from analogue to digital broadcasting, adding that what is doubtful is concretizing the great expectation of Nigerians on the current process of digital transition in the country.

“The National Assembly, with its responsibilities of representation will neither condone acts inimical to the development of the country nor allow Nigerians to be unduly exploited,” he said.

The benefits are huge and developmental, but investigation has shown that the previous attempts have been marred by irregularities, inconsistencies and misappropriations of funds generated for the switch over. It is again heart-warming that digital switch transition is ongoing in Nigeria and has commenced with its pilot phases in Jos and Abuja.

Pinnacle Communications Limited was tentatively chosen as the signal distributors for the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja and completed the process which was successfully launched in the FCT by the Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed.

Director General of Nigerian Television Authority (NTA), Yakubu Mohammed in his presentation said that “We at the NTA know that as a national broadcast outfit has a social responsibility of ensuring a public service broadcast of television guaranteed and provided for the people.”

Mr. Is’haq Modibbo Kawu director general Nigerian Broadcasting Commission,(NBC) made some clarification on what it has done and the plans to expand the project noting that NTA is our licensee while Startimes has a business relationship with the NTA and it is also a licensee of the NTA. What they have together is business relationship. What we taking out is a core duty process with the Nigerian public.

The Integrated Television service (ITS) is coming out from the NTA because there is infrastructure investment that Nigerian government has made in it. In the new architecture NTA will be only a content provider in Nigeria and they can now ride on the facility of the ITS because Nigeria has made lots of investments in ITS.

15 channels were entered in Jos launch in first half of 2016 and in December 2016 the Abuja switch over. The difference is that in Abuja it is no longer a pilot phase as it has commenced the process of switching off analogue television for Nigerians.

The process will now go through one state in each of the six geopolitical zones of Nigeria for the next phase of the process. “We are beginning to make contact with the governors of these states. It is a huge financial challenge for us as a country, so we want the governors to provide the set top boxes for their own people and that will help to accelerate the process,” Kawu said.

The Minister of Information and Culture, Mr Lai Mohammed explained that before now Television in the country provides content, but also transmits and broadcast their content. However under the White Paper Report, he said “broadcasters can only be responsible for the content of their broadcasts. If NTA comes here today NTA can only talk as a content provider.

NTA is not a signal distributor. Secondly, Signal distributors will be responsible for the transmission of the broadcasters’ content to the viewers at home. So NTA, Channels, SilverBird and other broadcasting services, all of them will simply provide contents which they will hand over to an aggregator who will now deal directly with the Signal distributor to be transmitted to our homes. Henceforth all broadcasting stations will be responsible only for content and not for transmission.”

He added that before the White Paper came out the Federal Government has done massive investment in infrastructure in NTA and will not allow it to waste so NTA could decide to go on collaboration with any private sector and come out as a signal distributor, but what they will be doing will not be as NTA, but as ITS.

“ITS is the only entity known to law as a Signal distributor. So Today NTA can only distribute Signal to Nigerians through ITS. Any licence issued to any broadcast organisation is provisional subject to meeting certain requirements of the NBC,” the minister said.
However, in its position paper the Broadcasting Organisation of Nigeria (BON) led by its Chairman, Mr John Momoh said there was nothing sacrosanct about June 2017 deadline, stressing that emphasis should be on how Nigerian migrate to digital broadcasting, but there shall be no specific deadline.

Momoh expressed the plight of broadcasters thus: “what is going to happen to our equipment having invested so much in transmitters. Channel Television has transmitters all over the country, so what happens? Is there going to be some form of collaboration with the Signal Distributors to ask us if they use our transmitters to cover these areas? At the end of the day what happens to those transmitters that are not being used?

We have to think about the environment vis -a-vis e-waste. So NBC should think very deeply on how these equipments will be disposed off. These are where we have the problems in our hands.
“There is also the issue of training of Nigerians. Other amendments we will be seeking from the House is the issue of section 14a of the NBC Act which states that

(1) The Commission shall establish and maintain a fund from which shall be defrayed all expenditure incurred by the Commission;

(2) There shall be paid and credited to the fund established pursuant to subsection (1) of this section; (a) such percentage of fees and levy to be charged by the commission on the annual income of licensed broadcasting stations; (b) such moneys as may, from time to time, be lent or granted to the Commission by the Government of the Federation or of a State; (c) all moneys raised for the purposes of the Commission by way of gifts, loans, grants in aid, testamentary disposition or otherwise; (d) all other assets that may, from time to time, accrue to the commission; (3)

The fund shall be managed in accordance with rules made by the commissions and without prejudice to the generality of the power to make rules under this subsection, the rules shall in particular contain provisions.

He explained that the “section is contentious and the contention of the BON is that the section should be expunged because of the trying time in the country. We are trying to get out of the recession and things are very tough for broadcasters. Regarding the deadline I think that we should work to get a very good switch over.

When we talk about deadline we put ourselves under pressure. The Ministry should be working with other states to make sure there is no confusion or interference on how we can transmit instead of talking of deadlines.”

The new date of June 20, 2017, would be the third time Nigeria is struggling to achieve the digital migration process. The switchover to Digital Terrestrial Television, (DTT), was a necessity for Nigeria as a signatory to the International Broadcast Union Agreement tagged: “Geneva 2006” which mandated all countries to switchover to avoid signal interference from other countries.

Now, Nigeria regarded as the country leading in the regional TV market cannot afford to fail again as the time is short and only Jos and Abuja has been covered out of the 36 states and FCT with only four months to end of deadline.

Again, the contentious issue from BON need to be address fast by government to avoid any stalemate due to the law that has turned private broadcasters who own equipment into only content providers.

These knotty issues need to be addressed so that the country will not be left behind from reaping from the economy of digitalization.