Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, has promised that the switch over from analogue to digital broadcasting in the Federal Capital Territory will happen by the end of 2016.
The Minister made the promise on Tuesday after a guided facility tour of Pinnacle Communication Limited – the licensed signal distributor of the Digital Switch Over, DSO, in the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, and Trefonics, a licensed manufacturer of Set Top Boxes.
He said the objective of his visit to the facility was to ascertain the level of preparedness to ensure a smooth switch over in Abuja.
Mohammed expressed satisfaction at the pace of work going and the equipment that have been procured.
He said: “We are very much on track but I think it’s important to understand what the Digital Switch Over entails. It entails that all the component actors be ready.
“Here is the signal distributor and we are quite impressed that before the end of November, this facility will be ready to distribute signals to the entire FCT.”
The pilot launch of the DSO was held in Jos, the plateau State capital, earlier in the year and the information minister pointed out that the main launch in Abuja is the most ambitious project so far in the DSO.
Mohammed commended the Chairman of Pinnacle Communication Limited, Lucky Omoluwa, whom, he said, had remained focused on the project despite the initial hiccup that almost derailed it.
At the complex of Trefonics in the Idu Industrial Layout, the Minister also expressed satisfaction with the Set Top Box manufacturing process.
“The first Set Top Boxes were actually imported but there is a proviso in the award letters that consequently, every licenced manufacturer will have to manufacture his products here and we are happy that Trefonics is doing exactly that,” he said.
Mohammed said he was optimistic that with proper marketing strategy and given Nigeria’s population, there will be a huge market for the Set Top Box manufacturers in the country.
He said the DSO has the potential to revolutionise broadcasting in Nigeria, thereby unleashing the creative potentials of youths, and creating one million jobs in three years.
Chairman of Pinnacle Communication Limited, told the minister that all the equipment required for the DSO launch in Abuja is on ground and that test transmission will commence in four weeks.
Also speaking, the Managing Director of Trefonics, Onochie Amasiani, said the company has already manufactured 50,000 Set Top Boxes using only one of its six production lines.
The Minister was accompanied on the tour by the Directors General of NTA and NBC, Yakub Mohammed and Ishaq Kawu respectively, as well as the Chairman of the DigiTeam Nigeria, Edward Amana, among others.