Tunis — During a plenary session held on Friday under the chairmanship of first Deputy Speaker Mr. Sahbi Karoui, the Chamber of Deputies approved a set of economic draft bills.

A draft bill was examined related to granting State guarantee to the loan concluded on June 16, 2009 between the Television Broadcasting Board and "Thomson Grâss Valley France" amounting to 4.606 million Euros.

In effect this amount is dedicated to financing the acquisition market and equipment for the first set up of the digital television project which necessitated a budget of 13 million dinars. Repayment of the credit is phased over five years with a 3.8% interest rate.

Before 2010, forecasts aspires enlargement of digital television in order to ensure a 90% digital coverage in Tunisia which give viewers the possibility to watch up to 6 TV channels on one same TV channel.

In this regard The Minister of Communication Technologies said that the extension of broadcast networks will ensure the broadcast of analogic 12 TV channels against only 4 currently.

The digital television broadcasting network is composed of 22 main stations in addition to 60 secondary stations. The network will provide a national coverage over 5 main regions notably: the greater Tunis area, El Kef , Sfax, Monastir, Gafsa, and Tataouine.

"Thomson Grass Valley France, a subsidiary of the Thomson Group, specialized in designing and marketing systems to create and broadcast a digital content for TV channels.