TECHDIGEST – There appears to be no end in sight for Nigeria’s Digital Switch Over (DSO) journey as the paucity of funds, lack of political will and new technicalities may have stalled its progress.

The Guardian understands that the DSO phased roll-out plan has been jettisoned owing to the perceived tediousness of the process, slowness, funding issues and fast-evolving technology. In its place, the Federal Government plans to execute a uniform roll-out, the date of which is not certain because of the change of administration.

In the phased rollout, only about eight states have been covered, albeit partially. The states include Lagos, Abuja, Kano, Rivers, Kwara, Enugu, Osun and Plateau.

The plan by the administration of ex-President Muhammadu Buhari, as championed by the then Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, and the National Broadcasting Commission (NBC), was to complete the process by December 7, 2022.

While Lagos officially transited from analogue to digital broadcasting on April 29, 2022, and hoped to complete the process by October of the same year, the timeline was not achieved, according to sources privy to the process.

According to the timetable, Kano followed on June 3, Rivers on July 7, while Yobe did July 15, 2022. The DSO was done partially in those states as only some cities have been covered.

After then, other fixed dates were Gombe (August 8, 2022), Imo (August 24, 2022), Akwa Ibom (August 31, 2022), Oyo (September 9, 2022), Jigawa (September 23, 2022), Ebonyi (October 10, 2022), Katsina (October 12, 2022), Anambra (November 4, 2022) and Delta (November 11, 2022). But they did not materialise as expected with other states penciled down for completion on or before December 2022.

Indeed, the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) originally agreed with 54 African countries that analogue TV should be switched off by 2015. Digital Terrestrial Television (DTT) has reached 90 per cent of homes in only 14 countries.

Findings by The Guardian showed that switchover is completed in Côte d’Ivoire, Burkina Faso, Gabon, Namibia, Botswana, Zambia, Rwanda, Tanzania, Kenya, Malawi and Eswatini (Swaziland), while the biggest economy in the region, Nigeria, is yet to find its DSO footings, almost a decade into the process.

According to DigitalTV Europe, while referencing research by Dataxis, sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) as a whole, will continue to see slow growth of DTT homes through 2027, with analogue broadcasting remaining on air in many countries. It noted that the proportion of digital terrestrial households will increase from 38 per cent today to 41 per cent by 2027, with Direct To Home (DTH) remaining the most widely used TV distribution technology.

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The research showed that while government switchover programmes have stalled or progressed slowly, commercial broadcasters have used digital transmission to increase their reach with payTV services. DTT accounts for 24 per cent of direct pay TV today.

As stated earlier, so many factors have been attributed to the slow progress in Nigeria’s DSO journey.

A source that worked with the immediate past administration gave further insights into the delay in analogue to digital transition in the country.

He said, having realised that doing state-by-state switchover had become very tedious and costlier, there was an agreement reached with StarTimes for the utilisation of their facilities and technology, already spread across the country. The source said the agreement was reached but had not been implemented before the change of government.

“You know, before, we were launching state-by-state. I think about eight states were launched. It was realised that that would not work. So, the team decided to reach an agreement with StarTimes because it (StarTimes) already has its mast and other facilities spread across the country. So, it was agreed that the facilities should be used to roll-out simultaneously across the country, which is almost like fast-tracking the process. The agreement was signed. It was at the level of implementation that the Buhari-led administration left office.”

According to him, if the agreement was implemented early, the DSO could be completed within a month. He, however, said there are still some huge financial implications to the entire process.

“Startimes has their mast installed already on the ground. All we need to do is to appear at the centre whenever we are ready and turn on the switch and everybody can begin to enjoy it. In other words, we are almost there. The entire country can be launched in one day because of the Startimes agreement. But then, there is a financial implication. Startimes, whose mast we are going to use need to be paid and not small money after all,” the source said.

On the supposed financial implications to Startimes, the source said, while Startimes didn’t charge because of the (Startimes/NTA alliance), it only agreed in principle that their facilities could be used and with a caveat that FG was still owing for the earlier launches.

On when the DSO project can be completed, he said it depends on the new government. According to him, if a new minister is appointed tomorrow, “he will be briefed and then decide on how to go about it. It can ask for a new agreement.”

He said should the new minister ask for a new agreement, many options are open to him. He said he can decide to use a satellite, in which case, masts are not needed. He said though some African countries use Startimes facilities, some areas still have to depend on Satellite, “the new minister can also look at the usage of Satellite to consolidate on Startimes facilities.”

According to him, another challenge confronting the DSO is the fast-evolving technology. “The thing is that when DSO was conceived, technology was not at this level. Right now, technology has moved beyond the level we were some 10 years back. So, the architecture for DSO is supposed to have changed and even become cheaper now. Then, you virtually needed to have a mast everywhere, but now, I don’t think that is necessary. You can decide to use Satellite directly, DMT/DSB, which is what Arise is using.

“The stakeholders have to come together, review the White Paper (which has to change) because that is the grund norm for DSO. The White Paper is obsolete because of evolving technology. So, what can be done now is to bring all stakeholders together, work out a new modality that will work, faster by far and then agree and bring an addendum to the White Paper and then roll out immediately,” he added.

Efforts to get NBC’s Director-General, Balarabe Shehu Ilela, to provide an update failed, as he did not pick up his calls nor did he reply to text messages sent to his mobile phone. However, an official of the parastatal, Susan Obi, who spoke with The Guardian, simply said the DSO process was on, “we shall brief the media soonest on new developments around the transition.”

From StarTimes’ perspective, the Chief Executive Officer, Tunde Aina, said as a PayTV operator in the country, StarTimes has covered more than 70 cities in 35 states including Abuja. Aina said DSO is about FreeTv and is now deployed in about eight cities, “but even then, the eight cities are not well covered yet. The cities are Lagos, Abuja, Kano, Port Harcourt, Ilorin, Enugu, Osogbo and Jos.”

Aina confirmed that there was an MoU signed between StarTimes and ITS on the DSO project, but that it had not been implemented.

“The idea of MoU is that because Startimes has already rolled out virtually in all the country, ITS (FreeTV) can be available wherever the company is. But there are so many technical issues that have not been resolved till this moment, including agreed charges,” he said.

Secondly, he said FreeTV, though it is free to the subscribers, the channels on the platform are supposed to pay the signal distributor. He said for example, Channels or TVC, is supposed to pay the Signal Distributor to carry their signals because the idea of the switch over or off is that no station will own a transmitter, that is no station can transmit their signal anymore because those transmitters are analogue transmitters.

“So, now that you are on a digital platform, you have to be carried by a carrier and in this case, ITS or Pinnacle. They are the two licensed Signal Distributors. It will amaze you that they have not even agreed on tariffs. That is ITS does not even know what they can earn, that is no income so to speak. This DSO journey in Nigeria has been on for close to a decade and is funded by Federal Government and the government cannot continue. So, they need to agree and fix a rate between broadcasters and the Signal Distributors that is when the process can take off properly and that has not been fixed. It is the responsibility of the Federal Government to do that, precisely NBC,” Aina stated.

According to the CEO of ITS, Sadeeq Omeiza Musa, the task force is seriously looking for a way forward, the hindrance has been a lack of funding.

Musa said DSO is a huge project and it is not easy to put money into broadcasting and transmission equipment across the country.

“The last idea we had from the Ministerial Task Force was that what we needed to do was to be able to cover the whole country by 70 per cent, then the remaining one, we will deploy DTH (Satellite) because, at some point, we will need Satellite to transmit the signals to the digital transmitter.

“So, the major challenge is that to acquire these digital transmitters is tough because they are very expensive and you know that people switching from analogue to digital are still using analogue transmitters. So, the idea is to also integrate local content, but that is not to say that even on satellite, you cannot integrate Satellite through IT. It can’t be done, but DTT is still very important since the frequency we are using for this project is leased to telecoms because the idea is to migrate everybody to a digital platform on DTT to maximise the spectrum and also at the end of the day, lease the spectrum through NCC to the telecoms so that we have the advantage of having a good Internet penetration,” he said.

Aina, who appreciated the former Minister of Information and Culture for all his efforts, said during his tenure, the team went to AFREXIM Bank in Egypt in early 2022 to seek funding for the project, while also awaiting funding from the sales of spectrum through the Nigerian Communications Commission.

According to him, the belief is that if we use the set-top box of Startimes, customers can get 30 channels to be watched free of charge when they pay N1,500 activation fees and “if you are interested you can go into their bouquet and subscribe per month. Same thing would happen to the Set-top box of FreeTv too. On the set-top box of FreeTV, you will be able to watch the content of PayTV when you pay a monthly subscription, almost 30 free channels. So, every Nigerian would now be able to watch television without stress.”

On the cost implication of DSO, a member of the TaskForce, who preferred anonymity, said the challenge is that Naira is not stable.

According to him, for a full site to come up with all the equipment as of when we started this DSO journey, $1 million (N250 million) for generators, transmitters and others. So, you make provision for the next 10 years because technology keeps evolving.

However, currently, he said for a site with a generator and others, “we should be looking at about $500 million. This also depends on who is bringing the transmitter. The reason I said the government may not be able to solely fund the project, there must be collaboration and FG must collaborate with us.

Meanwhile, more awareness would need to be carried out in Lagos and indeed other parts of Nigeria for people to be aware that there is a transition from analog to digital broadcasting in the country. This is even as there are no traces of some of the accredited designated centres for the sales of set-top boxes (STB) for FG’s FreeTV.

Checks on the Ilasamaja; Ikeja and Lagos Island centres showed that nothing appeared to have started in these centres. A businessman, Funso Gbadebo, told The Guardian that he is not aware of any digital transition, “not to talk of the FreeTV initiative of NBC.”

Alaba Market-based importer, Melvin Ndubuisi, also said he is not aware of the switch-over plan by the Federal Government. “What is switching over? I am just hearing this for the first time. I think there should be more awareness that the Federal Government wants Nigerians to participate in the programme,” Ndubuisi stated.

On this, the ITS boss said The FreetV is on, but the other obstacle is that there is no awareness around it.

He called out NBC, which he said is the facilitator of the DSO project to create more awareness aggressively. “We have two transmission sites in Lagos, Pinnacle has one and we too at ITS have one at Tejuosho in Yaba and that covers about 50-kilometer radius. That means that if you go to Badagry and you have our Set-top box, you will get our signal in that place. But the issue is how many people are aware? The awareness is crucial and NBC needs to do more than what they are doing now,” he stated.

The Guardian

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TECH DIGEST – Lagos state will officially transit from analogue to digital broadcasting tomorrow. This is part of the timetable in a renewed effort by the federal government to switch Nigeria on to the digital broadcasting system, after two failed attempts.

As Lagos goes digital tomorrow, the Federal Capital City, FCT Abuja will follow, May 30th, while the switchover in Kano will happen on June 3; Rivers, July 8; Yobe, July 15; and Gombe, August 12.

In the same order, that of Plateau, Kaduna, Kwara, Enugu and Osun states will follow in June, August and September 2021 respectively.

However, some stakeholders in the broadcast sector still do not believe that Nigeria has got the transition process right. They say the Lagos switching as much as others to follow are going to be merely political gatherings rather than practical technical activities.

They expressed fears that DSO completion, expected to take three years, is under threat from corruption and ill-conception.

Failed attempts

Recall that after Nigeria alongside other 119 member countries in 2006 signed up to the International Telecoms Union, ITU protocol to transit from Analogue to Digital broadcasting by 2015 in line with global trend, the country gave itself a task of concluding transition by June 17 2012, three years before deadline.

In a bid to achieve the 2012 migration date, the federal government in 2007, approved the process and in 2008, it inaugurated a Presidential Advisory Committee (PAC) on transition from analogue to digital broadcasting.

The committee submitted a report with several recommendations on how the country will achieve its aim. However, for what many stakeholders described as lack of political will, the government, kept silent on the report and failed to release a white paper on it for three years.

As a result of that, Nigeria failed to comply with the June 17, 2012, digital migration deadline it set for itself.

Having missed migration in 2012, government resorted to the main ITU deadline of June 17, 2015 and quickly inaugurated a 14-man team tagged Digiteam Nigeria. Again, for what industry sources described as lack of trust between the government and broadcasters in the process, Nigeria failed again, joining 51 other African countries at that time, which did not meet the June 17, 2015 deadline. The implication of that particular goof was that analogue signals from Nigerian broadcasting stations would receive no protection in the event of interference with or from digital signals from neighbouring countries.

Because there were reports that if the analogue transmitters should interfere with any digital broadcast in the neighbouring countries, ITU can force the country to shut down its own analogue transmitters, Nigeria appealed to the organisation for an extension to June 2017. With this new focus, the federal government began a gradual transmission from analogue to digital broadcasting in Jos, Plateau State, and Abuja, the federal capital territory and gradually cascade down to other states across the federation. These schemes were planned to set the pace for the second phase which is taking off tomorrow.

Adequate Provisions

Meanwhile, in a recent stakeholders meeting in Lagos, the NBC, admitted that this time around, the federal government has made adequate provision for a successful migration of the country to a digital broadcasting system. Apart from releasing money to the tune of N9.4 billion by the Federal Government, NBC appears excited that the setting up of a 14-member ministerial task force to drive the process would do justice to the process.

The minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed corroborated this, while promising that considering the huge benefits that Nigeria will derive from the migration, the government will not fail to complete the process.

Chairman of DigiTeam, Engr Edward Amana said: “As instructed by the ITU, Nigeria must switch off analogue television transmission and ‘go digital Switching over 22 million TV households to a more efficient and effective TV technology with clearer pictures and more choices for viewers is the aim of the Digital Switch Over (DSO) program

The Nigerian Broadcasting Corporation and the DSO Ministerial Task Force are tasked with ensuring that Nigeria ‘digitises’ and developing a public information and awareness campaign to inform citizens about DSO/FreeTV”

DSO benefits

For Mohammed, “there are a lot of benefits to derive in DSO. When the process is completed and there is Analogue Switch Off, the spectrum band to be vacated by broadcasters would be ceded to the telecom regulatory agency for sale and use in the mobile broadband industries. The spectrum is worth over one billion dollars. Besides the huge revenue it will generate for the country, the DSO would change the entire creative industry ecosystem and is capable of creating one million jobs in three years. The government would ensure its successful completion” he added.

However, a Jos-based broadcast engineer, who pleaded anonymity, explained that a major hindrance to the switch over process is the dodgy handling of monies earmarked for the first phase of the journey by those in charge. He pointed to the N2.5billion corruption scandal that erupted from the 2017 payment of seed grant to a private company, in breach of the guidelines of the Federal Government Whitepaper on Digital Migration, which led to the suspension and eventual arraignment of a former Director-General of the NBC by the Independent Corrupt Practices Commission, ICPC.

He said: “The suspended NBC Director-General, if you recall, is facing charges related to intent to defraud the Federal Government by paying the said sum to a company that was not entitled to receive such grant. His suspension and arraignment followed petitions to the ICPC by stakeholders. Payment of the grant was allegedly approved by his supervising Minister who, curiously, was not charged along with the suspended DG,” he said.

He also described the recent approval of N9.4billion by the Federal Executive Council (FEC), as payments to key DSO stakeholders, as “a standing invitation” to those that mismanaged monies earmarked for the first phase.

According to him, most of the stakeholders paid for the first phase are unable to justify payments received, as evidenced by the lack of DSO infrastructure and a halt to the programme since 2018.

In February, the Information Minister announced the approval of N9.4billion for payment of outstanding payments major DSO stakeholders, adding that the move will take care of the funding problems that have hindered the programme in the last three years.

Another broadcast engineer, based in Lagos, disclosed that the source of the money for the DSO second phase spending was the N34billion paid by MTN for broadcast frequency. He noted that most of those to be paid from this sum are those unable to justify the payments so far received. He said one of the licensed signal carriers, affiliated to the Nigerian Television Authority, got N1.7 billion for the commencement of the DSO but is dependent on the infrastructure of a major Digital Terrestrial Television (DTT) operator’s network coverage in just four cities across the country. He also noted that the other licensed signal carrier, which got N2.5billion as seed grant, has coverage in only the capitals of the five states of Plateau, Kwara, Osun, Kaduna, Enugu and the Federal Capital Territory, which were the pilot locations despite payment by the Federal Government.

He said: “Free TV with which the NBC hopes to drive the DSO is operational only in six locations. How can this infrastructure gap be bridged in three years?”

There are others who allege that the country’s conception of the DSO was flawed from the start because of the adoption of Set-Top-Boxes with conditional access built into them. For instance, a retired staff of the Nigerian Television Authority explained that what is needed to convert analogue to digital signals are standard type STBs, not those with conditional access like those pay television operations, for which he claimed the provider of the system was paid N1billion in the first phase.

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TECH DIGEST – The federal government said yesterday that the Digital Switch Over (DSO) being put in place will create 800,000 jobs.

According to the government, the Digital Switch Over will be rolled out soon. Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, disclosed this during an interactive session with the senate committee on Information and National Orientation with the 13 Member Ministerial Task Force on DSO project.

Explaining how the project would create job opportunities for Nigerians, the minister said that the manufacturing of set top boxes or decoders alone was capable of creating 50,000 jobs, while television production could create 200,000 jobs.

He said, “Film production can generate 350 to 400,000 jobs. Distribution, which entails supplying the market with set top boxes, TVs and Dongles for the internet, will require at least 100,000 wholesalers. Advertising can create a further 50,000 jobs.”

Explaining how the DSO will commence, Mohammed said, “We are kick-starting the new roll out in Lagos State on April 29, Kano on June 3 and Rivers State on July 8.

“We will then follow up with Yobe State on July 15 and Gombe State on August 12. So far, we have rolled out the DSO in five states and Abuja,” he said.

He also explained that the DSO had gone live in the Federal Capital Territory, Kwara, Kaduna Enugu and Osun states.

According to him, the ministry considers the DSO as one of its priority projects, given its potential to create jobs, bring governance closer to the people through better access to information and provide quality programming to Nigeria’s estimated 24 million television households, with high fidelity pictures and sound.

“Without mincing words, let me say straight away that for us, the DSO is about stimulating local content and empowering platform owners,” he said.

He disclosed that the ministry had taken some steps to create the enabling environment for the DSO to succeed, for local content to thrive, for indigenous producers to be more engaged and for the local advertising market to grow.

He also revealed that the federal government had carried out an unprecedented reform of the broadcasting industry, given the nexus between the reforms and success of the DSO.

“It will interest you to know that to date, the National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) has licensed over 30 Nigerian pay tv companies, but only 1 is currently struggling to break through, this is not acceptable,” the minister said.

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TECH DIGEST – Nigeria’s National Broadcasting Commission said that the country’s Digital Switch Over (DSO) project will be completed by middle of 2022 when the country will fully shift from analogue to digital terrestrial broadcasting.

The acting director-general of the commission, Professor Armstrong Idachaba, noted that funding from federal government and the recent establishment of a ministerial task force should speed the process up.

According to Nigeria’s Vanguard newspaper, the pilot programme actually launched as long ago as 2016 in Jos, Plateau State, followed by Abuja, Kwara, Kaduna, and Enugu, halting in Osogbo in February 2018.

After what appears to be a three-year break, blamed in part on a lack of political will and financial constraints, the launch will now resume in the country’s big cities, notably Lagos, with a completion date of the middle of 2022.

While this will may be good news for television broadcasters and viewers in Nigeria, there is an increasing need in other industries for spectrum, more of which will become available after the switchover, potentially benefiting a number of players, including suppliers of mobile communications services.

Like Nigeria and a number of other countries in Africa, South Africa missed the original deadline set by the International Telecommunication Union for completion of the switchover process, meant to happen in June 2015.

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