ITU DAY 4 : Digital Dividend: Challenges and opportunities
ITU DAY 4 : Digital Dividend: Challenges and opportunities
  • Korea IT Times (info@koreaittimes.com)
  • 승인 2013.11.25 18:21
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BANKOK, THAILAND - Panelists at the Digital Dividend Ministerial Roundtable, ably moderated by ITU BR’s Francois Rancy shared views and debated the issues their countries were facing as they realize the transition from analogue to digital tv.

Doan Quang Hoan, of Vietnam’s Ministry of Information and Communications began outlining the manifold benefits of the digital dividend noting that it is “not only for telecoms potential but for broadcast and all society.” He is eager to boost broadband penetration in Vietnam and acknowledged the potential of the new spectrum to boost mobile broadband. Cost is an issue, however, as if broadband is deployed on a high frequency it is harder to deliver low cost services. We need to look for low frequency for wireless broadband he noted.

Echoing the importance of the digital dividend, H.E Yunus Carrim, Minister of Communications for South Africa noted that he was acutely, excruciatingly aware of the tremendous value from the transfer to digital in South Africa.” Nevertheless, there have been some challenges to delivering this in South Africa owing to differences of opinion between different stakeholders; broadcasters and manufacturers.  He noted the looming deadline for the switch, as well as the urgent need to resolve spectrum issues to facilitate broader delivery to rural areas. He noted that he was at ITU Telecom World in order to “learn and share experiences.”

H.E. Dr Fred Matiang’i, Kenya’s Minister of Information, communications and technology acknowledged the importance of migration but noted that his country was experiencing some issues in this area which was putting government against private broadcasters. “Digital migration is held hostage to the interest of broadcasters to the exclusion of other interests such as content,” he told the panel. On the other hand there is an urgent need for the spectrum to be freed up in order to deliver much needed high speed internet to rural areas. He noted that the regulator has been working through these and other issues, including that of set-top boxes. This was an issue referred to by a number of other panelists, putting forward a set of different solutions as to how their governments were dealing with it, with various options proposed from subsidies to encouraging private investment.

Covering a broad geographical area, yet sparsely populated, Sudan needs a wider electromagnetic coverage. A key objective for Sudan, along with many other countries is to “make new technologies affordable”   Like Kenya they noted the challenge of set-top boxes, noting that subsidizing them would be a challenge. Another challenge would be the limited number of broadcasting channels, here private investment would be encouraged. The upside is considerable, however “Analogue to digital transition is an excellent opportunity to improve quality and (explore) new options, social, educational, broadcasting in this part of spectrum.” Explained H.E Dr Tahani Abdalla Attia Gasmalla, State Minister, Ministry of Science and Communication for Sudan.

Senegal is taking a subregional approach to its transition explained SENEGAL, and is eager to reap the benefits of increased spectrum not just for the potential to enhance mobile broadband service but also for its potential to focus more on local content “Digital TV offers 100s of local channels, to concentrate on local content,” explained H.E Mr Cheikh Mamadou Abiboulaye Dieye, Ministre, Ministère de la Communication et de l’Economie numérique, Senegal.

Her Excellency Mme Léocadie Nihazi, Minister of Telecommunications, Information and Communication and Parliamentary Relations for Burundi spoke of her country’s awareness of the importance of the digital dividend, having set up a governmental steering committee, established a regulatory framework around digital migration and embarked upon a public awareness campaign. “We are looking for ways to gather experiences from other countries, as alone we are lagging behind, but I can see all countries sharing problems in this area, exchanging problems on the road to achieving this objective.”

Delivering a speech on behalf of Cameroon, H.E. Jean-Louis Beh Mengue, Director General of the Telecommunications Regulatory Agency, outlined the country’s digital transition en route to achieving the 2015 deadline. Reallocation of frequencies has been planned with respect to mobile broadband, an area where Cameroon has been active for years in creating awareness of the “global needs of frequency bands for IMT, as harmonization is very important to allow everyone to take full benefit of economies of scale.


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