Kenya banking on triple play to lower digitization costs

The Kenyan government is banking on technology convergence to lower the cost of migrating from analog to digital broadcasting, said Bitange Ndemo, permanent secretary in the Ministry of Information and Communication.

Convergence of data, video and voice will play a major role in lowering the cost of migration; IT companies will work with the Kenya Broadcasting Corporation (KBC) to carry some of the content, which will lower the overall cost, Ndemo explained. The digital migration can be supplemented by other infrastructure, like terrestrial fiber, which can be used to carry the signal, he added.

While Kenya will switch to digital broadcasting by 2012, Ndemo said the government has set aside 100 million Kenyan shillings (US$1.5 million) for a pilot with KBC, in partnership with other television stations, by January of next year.

"KBC has two frequencies, which they can switch to digital and allocate a channel to the nine TV stations in the country," Ndemo said. "The government will give 16 to 20 channels so that people can start to migrate to digital."

The major hurdle in migration is the set-top boxes that the public will need to buy in order to convert the signal. The boxes cost 4,000 shillings, but Ndemo said the government will ensure they are priced low enough for everyone to afford.

"It is criminal to buy the boxes abroad. We should be able to assemble them locally and sell them at 2,000 shillings instead of 4,000," he said.

South Africa is facing major challenges in the migration process and has been forced to subsidize the boxes for low-income earners.

Ndemo, however, ruled out any subsidies from the government, arguing that the subsidies will go abroad to the Chinese and Koreans and will not help the unemployed youth in the country.

The International Telecommunications Union has set 2015 deadline for the global switch over from analogue to digital, but countries have been advised to switch before then to avoid last-minute challenges.