Cabinet approves $82.4m for DTT Migration Contract

Cabinet yesterday approved US$82.4 million for the Digital Terrestrial Television Contract to be executed by KNET Limited.

The contract is US$13 million cheaper than the StarTimes contract which was to cost the country US$95 million plus US$1 million annual interest for 22 years.

A statement issued by the Minister of Communications, Dr. Edward Omane Boamah, said “not only is the contract cheaper, but it saves the nation’s purse at a time when the government is engaged in smart borrowing”.

Also to benefit from the project is the telecom sector, as the high spectrum efficiency allows freeing of the spectrum from the booming telecommunications industry.

Dr. Boamah said the spectrum to be made available from the migration of broadcasters from analogue to the digital platform would be auctioned to pay for the migration process.

Besides, he said advertisers, broadcasters, filmmakers and actors and many others, would benefit from the project. The digitisation would increase multiple television channels, offers viewers better pictures and better sound quality.

KNET Limited is a wholly owned Ghanaian company.
Dr. Omane Boamah last year expressed concern about delays in getting funding from the Exim Bank to enable StarTimes to complete the migration process.

He said it had been decided a different funding arrangement be sought if in the next few weeks, StarTimes was not able to raise the money for the project from the China Exim Bank.

The initial deadline for the digital migration in the country and across the sub-region was December 2014, but no member of ECOWAS has been able to fully migrate into the digital space partly due to challenges related to funding.

The migration is expected to free more spectrums for use by mobile telecommunication operators in the country and the sub-region to enable them provide better services to clients.