MultiChoice Africa has expressed its readiness to collaborate with African telecommunication regulators to meet the 2015 terrestrial television migration deadline proposed by the World Telecommunication Organisation.
“African governments have a mandate to embrace a digital future and, as a stakeholder whose African roots are very deep, we felt we had to investigate widely, invest in research to explore available technologies and understand what the best standards would be.
“M-Net has always been a pioneer, we see it as our responsibility to ensure that the television systems we put in place not only work well but are the best available; for our partners, for our audiences and ultimately for our continent so that it can progress in line with global development.”
Mr. David Hagen, M-Net Technical Director, told this to journalists from selected African countries in Johannesburg, South Africa, at a programme aimed at exposing the latest Digital Video Broadcast Terrestrial-2nd Generation (DVB-T2) technology.
“The new technology, DVB-T2, is set to revolutionise the way Africans will soon use television; re-purposing frequencies to be more effectively utilised away from analogue to digital terrestrial transmissions (DTT) to deliver multi-channel entertainment.
“This opens up multi-channel television to a wider audience of viewers, allowing them more choice and greater variety in their viewing options, carrying several different digital television channels,” Mr. Hagan explained.
The deployment of the technology, which is in collaboration with South Africa’s eTV, has been undergoing trial testing by installing a DTT set-top box in 60 homes in Soweto using the DVB-T2 broadcasting standard.
These 60 homes are clearly illustrative of what Africa can get if it opts for the right technology, taking it to a place on the global stage.
“The second generation DVB-T2 standard is significantly more effective and that’s what we wanted to test, to trial the efficiency of the system in actual homes, to discover the real benefits of putting out the best technology in the world.
“The results of the measure-study have been extremely positive and show clearly that DVB-T2 is an excellent technology providing a viable multi-channel television service for all communities in terms of efficiency and technical performance, providing a gateway to whole world of great entertainment, sport, news, information and more.
“There’s no dish to install and it’s a simple technical process. You simply plug in a DTT box, put up a standard aerial and switch on your television. The same frequency that previously delivered one analogue television channel now gives you a choice of between 18 to 20 channels to watch.”
Hagen, who was pleased with the Soweto DVB-T2 trial and what it has contributed to Africa’s digital future, said: “It’s quite amazing and the studies in Soweto have been very instrumental in proving out the theories; in showing the digital quality sound and visuals at work; in taking a critical step toward complying with Africa’s agenda on digital migration.
“These deployment of DVB-T2, a second-generation standard which conforms to Africa’s frequency band plan and international obligations, will allow Africa not only to leapfrog technology but constitutes an investment for the future - the standard still has a long life ahead of it and none comes close at this stage.
“It is the best technology, for the long-term; it’s reliable, the results tangible, and is a verified success which has already started wining international awards.”
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