Digital migration: Analogue blackout in December – Mozambique

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Digital migration: Analogue blackout in December – Mozambique

1:31 CAT | 22 Jul 2019

Picture: Domingo

The migration from analogue to digital television In Mozambique, which started in December 2018 with the activation of the first transmitters, should be completed by the end of this year with the start-up of 60 broadcast centres.

According to the president of TMT (Transport, Multiplexing and Transmission) Victor Mbebe, the deactivation of the present analogue transmitters will take place in December this year, in compliance with the recommendations of the SADC.

Currently, the supply of the necessary digital decoders is underway, the country now having a total of 200,000 “boxes”, of which over 20,000 have already been distributed. By December, it is expected that 400,000 devices will be available.

The devices are sold to authorised TMT agents at a price of 1,200 meticais and allow unlimited free access to 15 national channels. International channels will be available on a subscription basis.

Transmitters in Maxixe, Namaacha, Ressano Garcia and Magude were activated In the start-up phase. There are now 36 operating transmitters, and in the cities covered by the digital signal, people can already migrate to the new technology.

The city and province of Maputo will be one of the last places to be activated, and only once a transmitter in Ponta do Ouro comes online. In Gaza, the process is complete, while in Inhambane, the signal for Quissico is still to be activated. The same goes for Sofala, Manica, Tete, Nampula, Cabo Delgado and Niassa.

Platform is not to be changed

Viewers with satellite, cable or terrestrial platforms like DSTV, Zap, TvCabo, StarTimes and Gotv will be able to keep their contracts with operators. Viewers who do not have a decoder and only pick up the signal via an antenna will have to purchase a device in order to receive the TV channels.

The advantage of acquiring a TMT decoder is that this platform will be the only one to make all the national channels available for free, even to with television packages. The TMT platform is able to transmit 60 channels, while Mozambique currently has only 15 broadcast channels.

By Benjamim Wilson

Source: Domingo