While Uganda in June 2015 switched off analogue television and moved to digital in fulfilment of an international deadline, upcountry areas still struggle to get clear signals.
The ban, according to Information and ICT minister Frank Tumwebaze, aims to allow for importation of television sets that already have installed digital systems that work without a Set Top Box.
A decision by court to order for a return to analogue broadcasting appears to have come at the right time for some residents in the Kampala suburbs of Kamwokya, Mulago and Makerere Kikoni.
Signet Uganda, the company mandated by government to be the sole signal distributor as the country heads towards digital migration, announced June 15 as the date for switch on to digital broadcasting.
Consequently, the national broadcaster, Uganda Broadcasting Corporation-UBC set up Signet to help Uganda beat the deadline to migrate from analogue to digital broadcasting.
Uganda Communications Commission, the government agency overseeing the process has often professed that digital broadcasting will improve the consumers\' TV experience in terms of better sound and picture quality. Although Uganda, like all the other African countries are committed to migrating to digital broadcasting by June 2015, our findings indicate that it is still not clear what the process entails.
UCC\'s Executive Director, Eng. Godfrey Mutabazi, while speaking at a joint meeting between MPs on the Presidential Affairs and ICT committees and broadcasters at Serena Hotel today, explained that with the current financial and technical woes surrounding UBC, it may be impossible for the country to beat the June 17th 2015 international digital migration deadline.
The Uganda Communications Commission (UCC) has revealed that it has not issued a licence to authorise an affiliate of Uganda Broadcasting Corporation (UBC) contracted to distribute television signal across the country, in preparation for the digital migration process.
For as low as six thousand shillings per month one can get access to high quality digital television, thanks to stiff price wars being waged by the industry players. There are presently nine digital television providers in Uganda, namely MultiChoice Uganda, StarTimes, Pearl, Kampala Siti Cable and Smart TV. Others are Time Watch Cable, Zuku TV, Go TV and Azam TV. All these players are jostling to get a sizeable piece of the digital television pie by coming up with mouth-watering offers.
The Company was contracted by the national broadcaster, Uganda Broadcasting Corporation (UBC) to help Uganda beat the June 2015 deadline set by the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) for African countries to migrate from analogue to digital broadcasting.
Uganda Broadcasting Corporation (UBC) has completed the initial stage of installing digital transmission equipment, and is piloting both the digital and analogue signal before making the switch.
Signal testing is currently underway as Uganda Communications Commission (UCC) moves to make the switch from analogue to digital broadcasting. UCC Executive Director Godfrey Mutabazi confirmed to Uganda Radio Network on Wednesday that the digital signal is being tested at Kololo Transmission Summit, after the process of installing equipment winded last month.
Over 700 customers subscribing to decoders from new pay television, Star Times are demanding for either immediate compensation or refund of their money after the machines failed to work due to faulty transmitters.
Godfrey Mutabazi, Executive Director Uganda Communications Commission says Uganda is behind schedule in implementing the shift to digital television broadcasting. Digital migration requires TV stations to covert their broadcast signal from analogue to digital signal.
