The Uganda Communications Commission (UCC) has declared the first generation Digital Video Broadcasting (DVB-T1) set top boxes still valid, legal and usable up to the global deadline for analogue to digital migration set for June 2015.
With this pronouncement the UCC seeks to clear the air over the confusion brought about by the dispute between Pay-TV provider StarTimes and the Uganda Consumer Protection Association (UCPA) over the first generation decoders already in the hands of customers.
The New Vision reports the UCC had prohibited further importation and circulation of DVB-T1 in favour of the superior DVB-T2 decoders, which have more channels per frequency and sharper and clearer images.
UCC executive director Eng. Geoffrey Mutabazi was emphatic that although the regulator has adopted new technology, it does not immediately render the old one useless or illegal. He clarified that what would be illegal is if more decoders were imported and sold after the phase-out.
“Consumers should take note that it is the Government that permitted Star Times to import that technology because it was popular then and widely used elsewhere in the world, but as technology advanced, we adopted a new one; consumers have to adjust and embrace the change,” Mutabazi told the New Vision.
He advised companies to use a win-win approach when selling technology to their clients so that both parties are financially cushioned in case of any changes in technology.
UCPA has since demanded that StarTimes recall all the first generation decoders it had sold to customers before they were outlawed and offer them the second generation decoders at no extra cost.
Coming to the defense of StarTimes, its spokesperson Christine Nagujja said: “We no longer distribute DVB-T1 decoders, but the decoders we sold before are serving clients with perfection, we also have a provision to exchange the old for the new technology.”
