This news is totally expected but nonetheless, very disappointing.
The Government of Ghana has decided to extend the deadline to migrate from analogue to digital TV to 2018. This was after the previous government had stated that the migration would be done by 2017.
The current Minister of Communications, Ursula Owusu-Ekuful had pushed the deadline to September of 2017 but has now shifted the migration to 2018.
According to her, the project is facing some challenges and is simply not ready for implemented.
What is Digital Migration
The digital migration or switchover is the process in which all forms of analog television broadcasting will be replaced by digital television.
That basically means if you have an “old” TV which uses antennas, you’re going to be out of luck when it comes to watching local channels like GTV and TV3. All those channels will be broadcast digitally.
The good thing about digital TV is that you can easily buy a device (decoder or set top box) which receives the digital TV signals captured over the air by an antenna and decodes the digital signal.
Fool Me Twice, Shame On Me?
I was already skeptical about the government already implementing the project by this year September and I was proven right. Don’t be surprised if the government even misses the 2018 deadline. The Ghana Government is notorious for setting implementation dates and missing them. The worst part is that they give you the whole “facing challenges” routine when they just need to say what they really mean:
“We’re broke.”
Despite my cynicism, I’ll be on the look out and keep readers updated on this.
Kind of reminds when the DVLA say they would be working on speed cameras in Accra by June. I think we shouldn’t hold our breath when government is optimistic about some of these technology projects.
