Digital Switch Over in broadcasting, irreversible, says Lai Mohammed

Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed has said that the switch over from analogue to digital television is ”irreversible” because it is a ”game changer” that will bring immense benefits to Nigerians.

The minister stated this in Quincy, U.S., on Tuesday during a meeting with the executive of Gates Air, a market leader in transmission solutions for broadcast network operators.

According to the minister, the Digital Switch Over (DSO) will help the government to achieve one of its cardinal goals, which is the diversification of the economy Mr Segun Adeyemi, the minister’s Special Adviser, quoted the minister as saying in a statement on Wednesday.

Mohammed said the Federal Government would roll out the DSO in broadcasting in the six geo-political zones in the next few weeks, as a practical demonstration of its commitment to the DSO project.

Specifically, he said that government was ready to roll out the DSO in six states across the country – Kaduna, Kwara, Delta, Enugu, Gombe and Osun, covering the six geo-political zones. Mohammed said the meeting with the U.S Company, a key player in the DSO process, further confirmed the government’s commitment to the project, which had been inaugurated in Jos and Abuja.

“The DSO is very important to this administration because of the limitless potential that it represents.

“For us as a government, DSO goes beyond just receiving digital transmission, as it is an avenue to create jobs and ignite the huge creative potential of our youths. “It is also a solution to some of the intractable problems affecting the Creative Industry, including piracy and distribution,’’ he said.

The minister, who led a Nigerian team inspected the facilities at the company’s sprawling factory, where several equipment meant for the DSO roll-out are currently being manufactured.

The delegation included Chairman of the House of Representatives’ Committee on DSO, Rep. Sunday Katung, and the Director-General of the National Broadcasting Commission (NBC), Ishaq Modibbo.

According to Katung, seeing some of the equipment being shipped to Nigeria for the DSO project has reinforced our belief in the ability of Pinnacle Communications Limited to meet its roll-out targets.

“Pinnacle is one of the two signal distributors for the DSO project,’’ he said.
The chairman of the House Committee on DSO said he was in Quincy, home of the 95-year-old Gates Air, as part of efforts to ensure that the DSO process goes smoothly.

“We seem to be heading in the right direction, after several misses, and I can now confidently speak on the project when I return to Nigeria,” he said.

He described Pinnacle Communications Ltd and Gates Air as reliable partners. Also speaking, Modibbo assured that the DSO project would be delivered on a modern platform.

The NBC Director-General described as a source of pride the benchmark set with the Abuja roll-out of the DSO in December 2016. Welcoming the delegation to his company, the Chief Executive Officer of Gates Air, Mr Phil Argyris, assured of the company’s readiness to work with Nigeria to ensure the success of the DSO project. Argyris stressed that his company had never let its customers down.

Other members of the Nigerian team include the Chairman of Digiteam, Mr Edward Amana, and the Chairman of Pinnacle Communications, Sir Lucky
Omoluwa.