TV digitisation project completion set for April

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Pamela Shumba Senior Reporter

THE $125 million digitisation programme that will see the country achieve universal television and radio coverage is expected to be complete by April 2016, the Broadcasting Authority of Zimbabwe (BAZ) chief executive officer, Obert Muganyura, said yesterday. Officials from BAZ, Transmedia, the project contractor Huwaei and the suppliers of the equipment Rohde and Schwarz South Africa, were at the Kamativi transmission site yesterday to witness the arrival of the first batch of the equipment. Muganyura told The Chronicle that the first batch of the equipment would be installed at five of the 48 transmission sites, adding that the installation is expected to be complete by the first week of November this year.

“We’re at the Kamativi site to see the beginning of the installation of the digitisation equipment at this particular site. The installation process will start here and proceed to four more sites, Kenmuar, Susamoya, Nyanga and Mutare. “We’re targeting to complete the whole project around April 2016 but this will be done in phases and we expect the completion of the first batch of these five transmission sites to be done by the first week of November,” said Muganyura.

He added the project is also revamping the radio transmission network to address the reception challenges that Zimbabweans in some parts of the country have been experiencing for years. “The Kamativi site is one of the 24 existing transmission sites that have been transmitting radio and television services across the country. We also have 24 additional new sites which has brought the number of sites to 48.

“These are the sites that are being digitalised under the Zimbabwe Digital Broadcasting Migration project. This project will see Zimbabwe migrating from analogue to digital broadcasting,” said Muganyura. He said a team of local engineers and graduate trainees are involved in the installation process so that there’s knowledge transfer between the suppliers of the equipment and how the whole system is configured.

Muganyura said he is optimistic that the project would be successfully completed at the targeted time despite the challenges being experienced. “There have been some challenges particularly at the start of the project. There was the issue of the down payment of 10 percent and the issue of pre-shipment payments. “There was also an issue of equipment inspections to make sure that it’s the correct equipment that we specified for the project. This called for the engagement of some experts.

“We’ve therefore lost some time but I’m sure we’ll complete the project according to plan,” he said. The Rohde and Schwarz project manager Bosman Eloff said the project was going well as 90 percent of the equipment was in the country. “We’re starting the installation of the first five sites today and if everything goes well the sites should be switched on during the first week of November. About 90 percent of the equipment is here and we’re expecting the rest to arrive soon.

“We’ve done the same project in South Africa, Lesotho, Swaziland and Ghana. I want to assure the people of Zimbabwe that the difference in reception is unbelievable,” said Eloff. In his state of the nation address delivered to the National Assembly and the Senate on Tuesday, President Mugabe said the country would for the first time in history achieve universal television and radio coverage.

Recently, the Secretary for Information, Media and Broadcasting Service George Charamba said the country’s ongoing digitisation process would result in the creation of thousands of job opportunities in the media industry in line with the objectives of Zim-Asset. He said three top class international standard studios would be established in Bulawayo, Harare and Victoria Falls with a satellite studio in every province to ensure continuous high quality local productions.

Charamba said once completed, the process would ensure local programming while there would also be platforms for foreign productions. He said through the contractor, Huawei, the digitisation process would not fail, compared to previous attempts with Iran, where the country moved to acquire equipment before capacitating engineers.

He added that 34 engineers were being trained so that there is continuity after the process is completed.

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