Zimbabwe: Govt to meet digitalisation deadline

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Mutsvangwa was responding to a question from Damian Mumvuri (Zanu-PF Senator for Mashonaland Central) on the preparedness by the Ministry of Information, Media and Broadcasting Services in meeting the deadline to switch from analogue to digital broadcasting.

"As members of the International Telecommunications Union (ITU), we are bound to meet the deadline of June 17, 2015.

"All efforts are underway to make sure that by that date, we would have moved from analogue to digital."

ITU set June 17 as the deadline for all countries in region one, where Zimbabwe falls under, to migrate from analogue to digital broadcasting. Mutsvangwa said an agreement had been signed between the Broadcasting Authority of Zimbabwe (BAZ) and a Chinese company, Huawei to supply all the equipment.

"Work has already started and local institutions and companies such as the District Development Fund (DDF), Zimbabwe Electricity Transmission and Distribution Company (ZETDC) and TelOne have already been engaged to make sure that they do the work and to make sure that everything is put into place," she said.

Mutsvangwa said her Ministry educated visitors at the just ended Zimbabwe International Trade Fair in Bulawayo on the migration from analogue to digital broadcasting.

When digitalised, the Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation would have several channels and a digital library to preserve its channels.