Why Nigeria missed global analogue switch-off deadline

June 25, 2015

Despite the more than a decade notice, Nigeria failed to meet the June 17 digital switch-over deadline of the International Telecommunications Union (ITU). Analysts blame the failure on the near-lack of interest former President Goodluck Jonathan administration. Assistant Editor LUCAS AJANAKU examines the implications of the development on the country.

GOING by its shoddy preparation, Nigeria’s failure to meet the June 17 deadline, set by the International Telecommunications Union (ITU), for digital switch-over was one that was waiting to happen.

The Nigerian Broadcasting Commission (NBC) – the agency saddled with the responsibility to drive the transition – was ill-equipped. It was starved of funds and could not create awareness for the switch-over and acquire the vital equipment.

Speaking on the sideline of a capacity-building workshop, organised by the NBC for select members of the Seventh National Assembly at Protea Hotel, GRA, Ikeja, Lagos, last year, a former Commissioner with the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) Mr. Stephen Bello, expressed concern over the tardy preparation  for the switch-over.

Bello was one of the resource persons at the workshop that also had stakeholders in the telecom sector as participants.

He warned that there could be information blackout for 99 per cent of television viewers by the switch-over, which would automatically make analogue television sets obsolete.

The only saving for the country is that its contiguous neighbours also missed the target. Otherwise, there would have been interference in transmission signal.

At the workshop, Bello’s audience was attentive, listening to somebody, who was eminently qualified to talk on issues affecting the industry and proffer solutions.

He said: “Digital broadcasting is coming upstream, but the 2015 target for switch over to digital television is not achievable.

“Transmitting stations may be able to broadcast digital TV signals, but 90 per cent of television sets will not be able to receive the signals.

“If they go digital next (this) year, 90 per cent of Nigerians will be cut off from their TV. If they switch off analogue to digital, there will be chaos.”

Bello hinged his conclusion on the premise that infrastructures that would have facilitated a seamless transmission were not available.

According to him, “there will be need for government to facilitate local manufacture or massive importation of set-top boxes which will enable present analogue TV sets to receive digital signals if there is a switch-over in 2015.”

He spoke on the sideline of a capacity building workshop for the national lawmakers with ICT Infrastructure as a Key Driver for Economic Development: What Role for the Legislature as its theme. It was held at Protea Hotel, GRA, Ikeja, Lagos.

And on June 17, Bello was vindicated as the country failed to honour an agreement to which it was a signatory as an ITU member.

In the beginning

ITU member-states had at the Regional Radio Communication Conference in 2006, also known as the GE06 Regional Agreement fixed June 17 as the final switch off date for analogue broadcasting.

Nigeria, as a member of the group, signed onto the date enthusiastically. Back home, stakeholders in the broadcast industry thought they had enough time to do the needful.

So, the authority adopted June 17, 2012 as the nation’s digital switch-over date. The Federal Executive Council (FEC), then chaired by former President, the late Alhaji Umaru Yar’Adua, approved the date and it became Nigeria’s official digital switch-over date.

A Digiteam was constituted and all its members could do was to fritter the scarce resources on seminars and workshops that eventually led the country to nowhere.

Another date of December 31, 2014/January 1, this year, was set by the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and the National Council on Information respectively.

Rather than switch-over, the NBC lamented: “Sadly, however, despite our best efforts, we are unable to transit the country by June 17 this year.”

Challenges

According to NBC’s Director-General Emeka Mba, paucity of funds was one of the major challenges that deterred his Commission from performing its responsibilities.

 He alleged that the Federal Government under former President Goodluck Jonathan did not provide the required cash.

An interactive session with ICT reporters in Abuja, Mba said the country will require funding in excess of N80 billion to effect the Digital Switch-Over (DSO), adding that the Commission was exploring ways to generate the needed cash.

One of such options, he said, was looking at getting some cash from the auctioning of licences that would be freed up from the exercise. Those licences are referred to as ‘digital dividends’.

The regulator said it was discussing with its regulatory counterpart in the telecoms sector, including the NCC, which hopefully would be given the frequencies by the National Frequencies Management Council with a view to getting a slice of the cake.

Also speaking on the sideline of a Digital Migration Summit in Lagos, the NBC chief said the successful implementation of the programme would be determined by massive funding and industrial collaboration.

He said the DSO required significant collaboration from everybody and faulted the impression that it was government, or NBC’s project as misplaced.

Mba, who urged Nigerians to join hands in achieving the deadline, described the DSO as a global affair.

He said: “We are talking to the NCC but it is a very intricate thing – you want to sell something you do not know the price; it is an auction.

“We are working with them (NCC); they have been magnificent in terms of their cooperation. We are talking with them.

We are looking at all the options; all the options are on the table and that is part of the options; looking at how we can get some form of advance payment.

“These are some of the smart options. These are some of the things that we have done. So, we are looking at those options.

“If we have to get there, we must have massive funding; we must have industrial collaboration because there has been this notion before that digitilisation is government or NBC’s (headache).

“It is not. It is a global thing; it is something that is for everybody.  For us to really take advantage of this, we have to come together in the industry because the overall advantage of digital ecosystem is tremendous; new jobs to be created, diversity of news sources, more funding to the economy and the fact that we are going to be giving off valuable spectrum that will go into improving broadband penetration in the country is significant.”

Mba may not be far from the truth. All over the world, countries that have achieved DSO got massive financial support from the government to either domestically manufacture set top boxes, whip public awareness and carry out pilot tests in selected parts of the country before eventual national DSO.

For instance, Namibia, Mauritius and Tanzania, the only nations in the Southern African Development Community (SADC) and Africa in general that met the digital migration deadline committed substantial funds to attain the feat.

Directot-General of the Namibia Broadcasting Corporation (NBC), Albertus Aochamub, who was tasked by the government to drive the digital migration process, said the country has reasons to celebrate after meeting the ITU dateline that came at the cost of N$400 million ($32 million).

The NBC said: “The Digital Switch-over programme in Nigeria was a victim of unfortunate political developments in the country.

“Following recommendations from a broadcast summit organised by the NBC, the government, in 2007, set up the Presidential Advisory Committee, PAC, to prepare the policy document that would guide the transition.

“Just after the submission of the PAC report to government in December 2009, the nation was plunged into a crisis of succession resulting from the illness and eventual death of President Umar Musa Yar’adua.

“Soon after that, the nation went into an election in 2011.  Eventually, in December 2012, government issued a White Paper on the PAC report, approving the critical steps needed to achieve the Switch-over, including the setting up of the DigiTeam.

“However, since then, government has not been able to provide the necessary funds to finance the activities of DigiTeam, to finance the Set-Top-Box rebate programme, to finance publicity and public enlightenment, to finance analogue transmitters buy-back programme, and others.

“With no money to operate the DSO budget, it was impossible to move beyond what the Commission had been able to achieve.”

The agency has asked for an 18-month extension, believing the new government will adequately fund the project.

Another challenge was awareness. Even among the elite, there was low level of awareness among the populace about the programme.

It was ridiculous that a senior-cadre officer on level 13 did not know anything about digital migration.

Implications of missing

the deadline

Though sector analysts have said since countries contiguous to Nigeria such as Ghana, Niger Republic, Chad and others also missed the deadline, there will be no interference in broadcasting.

The NBC explained posted on its website:  “In the digital broadcast environment, digital transmitters are protected from interference from signals coming from analogue transmitters.

“Therefore, the main consequence is that if our analogue transmitters should interfere with the signals of any digital broadcast in any of our neighbouring countries, we can be forced by the ITU to shut down our own analogue transmitters.

“If, however, a digital transmission from any of our neighbours should interfere with any analogue broadcast in Nigeria, we do not get any protection.

“However, the chances of any of that happening are very slim since none of our neighbours is likely to meet the date.”

According to the global umbrella body of telecoms, the Global System for Mobile Communications Association (GSMA), the sale of released broadcast frequencies as a result of digital switch over (DSO) in the country could reach $2 billion.

 The group further averred that through the release of Digital Dividend Spectrum (DDS), sub-Saharan Africa could grow its yearly regional Gross Domestic Product (GDP) by $82 billion by 2025; earning some $18 billion in enhanced tax revenues and creating no fewer than 27 million jobs.

The DDS is the frequency band located in 700megahertz (MHz) spectrum band. It has been internationally adjudged to be very useful in deploying high-speed internet services globally.

The spectrum was approved by ITU, an arm of the United Nations (UN), for mobile broadband deployment about three years ago for its member-countries.

In Nigeria and other countries around the world, this spectrum bands is in possession of the broadcast industry which ought to have implemented the DSO and enable the broadcast industry to use a lower frequency band.

An official of the NCC, who pleaded for anonymity, lamented that this all-important spectrum bands are still in the hands of the NBC.

“As at today, none of these frequencies has been realised despite the fact that we are on the eve of migration to digital broadcasting. Besides, we are not sure yet whether any of these broadcast media is ready for digital transmission,” the NCC source said.

Mba had assured that the nation would achieve DSO, adding that more than 26 per cent of the population was already doing digital transmission while the huge mass with analogue transmitters and television sets have their fates hanging in the balance.

Inview Technologies of the United Kingdom (UK) and a consortium of indigenous broadcasters, were contracted to provide set-top boxes and to make available the software that will make the provision of key service available respectively.

Since spectrum availability is closely linked with broadband infrastructure development, freeing up of the locked 700 megahertz (Mhz) frequency will no doubt, have complemented current efforts by the country to increase broadband penetration from about eight per cent to 30 per cent by 2018, in line with the Federal Government’s target as contained in the National Broadband Plan (NBP). This is because it will allow the deployment of broadband services using the Long Term Evolution (LTE) or fourth generation, or 4G technologies.

Already, stakeholders are waiting patiently for the digital dividend to be released by the necessary authority since frequency allocation in Nigeria has to undergo certain processes.

If the 700Mhz frequencies had been withdrawn from the NBC, it would have first been handed over to the NFMC, which is the custodian of all frequencies in.

The NFMC then decides what slots it gives out to the NCC for allocation accordingly with appropriate guidelines according to global best practices, especially as stipulated by the ITU.

President, Association of Telecoms Companies of Nigeria (ATCON), Mr. Lanre Ajayi, said releasing the spectrum bands to investors that will roll-out service on them will add a new fillip to the industry, especially now that the next revenue frontier of the telecoms industry has shifted from voice to data.

 He said: “It will be an advantage for the country if these spectrum bands are released by the appropriate authority for NCC to allocate to would-be applicants.”

NCC’s  Director, Spectrum Administration, Austine Nwaulune, said June 17 DSO deadline is a global phenomenon, stressing that any analogue station that failed to migrate ran the risk of losing ITU’s protection, warning that “and if Nigeria causes interference, it will be sanctioned.”

But digital dividends are not yet available and NCC cannot give what it does not have. In the light of this, the telecoms industry regulator said it has commenced consultation with the stakeholders on the best way to allocate the spectrum bands ahead of the expected release of spectrum from broadcast industry to the NFMC.

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