Analogue to Digital Migration arises out of the Regional Radio-communications Conference of 2006 (RRC06) and the subsequent Geneva 2006 Agreement (GE06) of the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) ‘Recommendations’ of which Uganda is a party. All countries signatory to this agreement must migrate from analogue to digital broadcasting services by 2015.

Why Migrate

Broadcasting technologies currently take either of the two forms, analogue or digital. Digital broadcasting technology is superior to the analogue broadcasting technology with the latter slowly being phased out worldwide.

The advent of digital technologies is facilitating increased convergence between broadcasting, telecommunications and the internet. It is now possible for different types of content (audio, video, and text) to be stored in the same format and delivered through a wide variety of technologies (computers, mobile phones, televisions, etc.).

Digital broadcasting brings with it the following benefits:

1. Efficient use of the frequency spectrum, a scarce resource;
2. More channels and, therefore, more diverse content delivered to the public;
3. Better picture quality;
4. Potential for special interactive services to cater for people with visual and hearing impairments such as audio description and subtitling, data-casting, and e-government delivery;
5. Lower transmission cost due to the fact that less transmitter power is required for the same area of coverage under analogue;
6. Optimal utilization of the transmission infrastructure since broadcasters would be concentrating on content production, leaving the development of digital infrastructure to the signal distributor and;
7. Reduction of the negative impact of the broadcasting infrastructure on the environment.

Implementation of Digital Migration
In order to implement Digital Migration in conformity with the ITU ‘Recommendations’, the Ministry of Information and Communications Technology (MoICT), in consultation with key stakeholders (regulators, broadcasters, consumers and network operators) developed a Digital Migration Policy and the attendant Implementation Strategy.

To enable smooth transition to Digital Terrestrial Television Broadcasting, two committees are in place to direct and coordinate the process. These are the National Steering Committee that comprises of chief executives from lead stakeholder institutions and the National Digital Migration Taskforce which is the National Steering Committee’s technical and operations arm. 

The Policy requires that the broadcasting industry be segmented into Infrastructure Services Provision and Content Services Provision. In this way, transmission infrastructure will be the responsibility of the signal distributor and the traditional broadcasters will be left to concentrate on content development.

The Uganda Broadcasting Corporation (UBC) is the designated National Public Signal Distributor whose obligation is to carry digital television signals from all broadcasters. UBC is in the process of restructuring into Content Services and Infrastructure Services entities as set out by the Digital Migration Policy. Also a Private Signal Distributor is to be licensed.

Uganda has chosen to implement DVB-T2 (Digital Video Broadcast-Terrestrial-2nd Generation) which is an advanced technology due to its benefits and enhanced capabilities. However, there exists some DVB-T1 infrastructure which had earlier been rolled out by Digital Television Pilot Projects like Star Times and Next Generation Broadcasting among others. These projects will not be affected by digital migration.

Migration Timeline
ITU has set 17th June 2015 as the date for switch off of analogue broadcasting systems and as such all signatories must have migrated from analogue to digital broadcasting services by then.

UCC through RCDF funding is in the process of rolling out digital broadcasting infrastructure for UBC starting with the greater Kampala region. This region includes Kampala, Entebbe and parts of Masaka, Jinja, Nakasongola, Mityana and Mubende will have its TV viewers ready to receive digital TV signals by 31st December 2012. Digital infrastructure will subsequently be extended to all parts of the country.

There will be a dual illumination period, when both analogue TVs broadcasting will co-exist with digital TV broadcasting, up to such a time when the infrastructure for signal distribution has been fully established. Uganda shall have switched off analogue broadcasting by June 2015.

Role of the Different Stake Holders in the Migration Process

Government

1. Put in place appropriate policy, legislative and regulatory frameworks to enable smooth execution of the migration process within the set timelines.
2. Provide appropriate incentives and support for the signal distributor and broadcasters to put in place necessary digital infrastructure.
3. Promote the uptake of Digital broadcasting technologies and services through consumer awareness and support especially for acquisition of Set-Top Boxes.

Regulator (UCC)

1. The regulator will have to enforce license conditions for both signal distributors and broadcasters;
2. The regulator is expected to address to mitigate any cases of signal interference between the analogue and digital networks;
3. The regulator will develop a communication strategy to manage various issues that arise from analogue-digital conversion process.

Signal Distributor
The signal distributor will provide:

1. Carriage of the signals from the studio to distribution sites;
2. Distribution of the signal to designated transmission sites;
3. Broadcast the signal within the service area.

Broadcasters

1. Invest in appropriate infrastructure for content development;
2. Put in place appropriate human resource to address content development and;
3. Undertake extensive marketing campaigns in collaboration with government to ensure smooth transition to digital broadcasting.

The Consumers/TV Viewers
Upon establishment of the digital broadcasting infrastructure as explained above, analogue TV owners will need to acquire Set-Top-Boxes (STBs) in order to receive the new digital TV services.

The Government of Uganda, in a bid to ensure affordability of these digital receivers, has waived taxes off Set-Top-Boxes.
To ease the acquisition of these STBs, standards and minimum specifications have been issued by UCC to allow the business community and consumers make an informed decision. Ideally, the STBs should allow full-time access to free-to-air TV channels and must be compatible with all analogue TV sets.

The National Steering Committee
This is a committee charged with the overall responsibility directing and responding to challenges arising during the digital migration process and even beyond the switchover. Through this committee, the Government will monitor and evaluate the awareness, up take and use of the new services based on digital technology.

The committee comprises of the chief executives from:

1. The Ministry of ICT;
2. Office of the Prime Minister;
3. Broadcasting Council;
4. Uganda Communications Commission and
5. National Association of Broadcasters.

The National Digital Migration Taskforce
This is the operational arm of the National Steering Committee and is also charged with technical guidance on issues of Digital Migration. It also performs the duties of the secretariat to the National Steering Committee among others.
It comprises of representatives from:

1. Ministry of ICT;
2. Uganda Communications Commission;
3. Broadcasting Council;
4. Ministry of Information and National Guidance and;
5. One representative from the Private Sector.

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