London — The course of digital migration in Africa rarely seems to run straight and Ghana is no exception to this rule. The Government is now approaching the tenth year of the process with no clear end in sight. Russell Southwood looks at the many twists and turns and what might happen.
In 2008 Government broadcaster GBC ran a DTT pilot in Accra. It then teamed up with Swedish company Next Generation Broadcasting (NGB) through its local subsidiary Skyy Digital (now First Digital) and extended the roll-out to Kumasi Takoradi by 2010. At this point, the regulator intervened saying that there had not been due process and a single broadcaster should not have ownership of the transmission infrastructure. NGB withdrew from the process and later left the continent.
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