FG to launch DSO in Enugu, Osogbo February

The Federal Government will in February roll out Digital Switch Over (DSO) in Enugu and Osogbo in Osun as part of its efforts to transit broadcasting from analogue to Digital Terrestrial Television nationwide.

The Director -General of National Broadcasting Commission, (NBC), Mallam Ishaq Modibbo-Kawu, disclosed this at the DSO Stakeholder Retreat in Uyo, Akwa Ibom.

At the retreat attended by the Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, the director general said that preparations for the launch in the two states were near conclusion.

Modibbo-Kawu also disclosed that the process of installation of equipment for the roll out in Gombe and Delta states were near conclusion and the launch would hold before the end of the first quarter of the year.

He gave an assurance that between the middle of the year and the third quarter of year, NBC would have concluded DSO roll out in 12 states.

It would be recalled that the government had so far launched DSO in Jos, Abuja, Ilorin and Kaduna.

He said the commission and other stakeholders had heightened discussions about completing the digital mapping of the country, adding that the process was vital for achieving the overall planning of the entire DSO mapping of Nigeria.

Speaking on the challenge of virtual coverage of the states and territory where the DSO had been launched, Kawu said that it was due to topography.

“Coverage is related to topography. Take an example of the FCT, it is a city of hills and undulating grounds.

“As I am talking to you, the signal distributor for Abuja has purchased feeder pillar transmitters which will be installed for the entire Abuja and environs to be covered.

“The same thing applies in Plateau. The signal distributor has to put feeder pillar transmitter in places like Langtang for the entire state to be covered, ” he said.

He said the commission had also taken a decision that by the end of March, it would switch off analogue transmission in Abuja and Jos to compel television viewers to get Set-Top Box.

Kawu said that the retreat provided the opportunity to solve some of the problems associated with the DSO process.

Also speaking at the retreat, Hon. Olusegun Odebunmi, the Chairman, House Committee on Information, National Orientation and Values, reiterated the support of the National Assembly to a successful completion of DSO.

The lawmaker said that funding of the DSO through budgetary provision might not be achievable because of the constraint of fund.

He, therefore, called on the government to sell off the available spectrum and use part of the money to fund DSO.

“The Government must give directive for the sale of spectrum which is the ready made funds for it and make part of the realised money available to bankroll the process

“The best and the only sure way to raise money is to sell off the nation’s spectrum.

“ The process requires huge investment and because it is Nigerians that will benefit from it, it is time for government to invest in its people.

“There should also be a plan for compensation to those people that are vacating the spectrum.

“Money from the spectrum will also be used to subsidise the purchase of Set-Top boxes for the masses.

“The government must have the political will to drive the process,” he said.

Speaking in the same vein, the Chairman of Licenced Set-Top Box Manufacturers, Godfrey Ohuabunwa, said the only solution to the challenge of funding the DSO was to sell the spectrum.

From his estimation, a sum of N1 trillion would be realised from the sale of the spectrum from which part could be used to fund the DSO process.

Ohuanbuwa said that money spent on DSO should be seen as an investment because it would be realised by the government from sale of licences by the NBC and seamless annual collection of TV levies from millions of TV households.

He also called on state and local governments to subsidise the Set-Top boxes for the indigent and old people.