The Ugandan Communications Commission (UCC) has confirmed vital equipment to be used in Kampala’s delayed digital migration process has finally arrived.
The equipment includes digital transmitters, which will be used to provide a digital signal covering a radius of 150 kilometres and transmitting to Kampala and its environs.
According to the commission’s executive director Godfrey Mutabazi, with the arrival of the
equipment the digital migration process in the city is underway. Analogue switchoff is expected by the end of June.
“Since all the major equipment we have been waiting for has already arrived, we expect the process of digitising Kampala and its environs to be completed before the end of June,” Mutabazi told local daily The Monitor.
The country was unable to achieve the targeted December 31, 2012migration as well as a later date in April, with stakeholders blaming limited funding and squabbles between government agencies, the UCC and the licensed signal distributor the Uganda Broadcasting Corporation (UBC).
The planned migration will see UBC compete with five private players, including MultiChoice’s DStv, Chinese-owned StarTimes and Zuku.
Should Uganda meet its June deadline it will be the second country in the region after Tanzania to complete analogue switchoff in some areas, with Kenya expected to switch off analogue broadcasting in September.
The Kampala digital migration process is being carried out by the Harris Corporation at the cost of USh5.2 billion Ugandan shillings (US$2 million).
