Nigeria’s Digital Switchover (DSO) journey looks to have no end in sight, as a lack of funding, political will, and new technicalities may have slowed its development.
The DSO gradual roll-out plan has been scrapped due to the perceived tediousness of the procedure, slowness, financing concerns, and rapidly advancing technology, according to the Guardian report. Instead, the Federal Government intends to carry out a uniform roll-out, the timing of which is uncertain due to the change in government.
Only around eight states have been covered, albeit partially, in the stepwise deployment. Lagos, Abuja, Kano, Rivers, Kwara, Enugu, Osun, and Plateau are among the states.
The administration of ex-President Muhammadu Buhari planned to complete the process by December 7, 2022, as championed by the then-Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, and the National Broadcasting Commission (NBC).
According to sources close to the process, while Lagos officially transitioned from analogue to digital broadcasting on April 29, 2022, and aimed to complete the process by October of the same year, the schedule was not met.
Kano would follow on June 3, Rivers on July 7, and Yobe on July 15, 2022, according to the schedule. The DSO was only partially completed in certain states because just a few cities were covered.
Other definite dates that followed were Gombe (August 8, 2022), Imo (August 24, 2022), Akwa Ibom (August 31, 2022), Oyo (September 9, 2022), Jigawa (September 23, 2022), Ebonyi (October 10, 2022), Katsina (October 12, 2022), Anambra (November 4, 2022), and Delta (November 11, 2022). However, they did not materialise as predicted, with other states scheduled to be completed by December 2022.
Indeed, the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) initially agreed with 54 African countries to phase out analogue television by 2015. In only 14 nations, Digital Terrestrial Television (DTT) has reached 90% of homes.
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African countries compliant with the digital switchover
The switchover has been completed in Côte d’Ivoire, Burkina Faso, Gabon, Namibia, Botswana, Zambia, Rwanda, Tanzania, Kenya, Malawi, and Eswatini (Swaziland), but the region’s largest economy, Nigeria, has yet to find its DSO footings, nearly a decade into the process.
According to DigitalTV Europe, citing Dataxis data, Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) will continue to witness modest growth in DTT homes through 2027, with analogue transmission remaining in many countries. According to the report, the share of digital terrestrial households will rise from 38% now to 41% by 2027, with Direct To Home (DTH) remaining the most popular TV delivery technology.
While Nigerian government switchover plans have stopped or moved slowly, commercial broadcasters have leveraged digital broadcasting to expand their reach with payTV services, according to the research. DTT now accounts for 24% of direct pay TV.
As previously noted, numerous causes have been related to Nigeria’s poor development on the DSO journey.
Why Nigeria’s Digital transition is delayed
A source close to the previous administration provided additional insight into the country’s analogue-to-digital transition delay.
He stated that, after realising that doing state-by-state switchover had become too time-consuming and expensive, a deal was reached with StarTimes to use its facilities and equipment, which were already dispersed across the country. According to the source, the agreement was struck but not implemented prior to the change of government.
“Before, we were launching state by state.” I believe eight states were launched. It was quickly realised that this would not work. So the team decided to work with StarTimes because it already has a mast and other facilities dispersed across the country. As a result, it was determined that the facilities should be used to roll out concurrently across the country, effectively speeding up the process. The contract was signed. The Buhari government departed office at the level of implementation.”
He believes that if the deal is implemented quickly, the DSO might be completed within a month. However, he stated that the entire procedure still has significant cost repercussions.
“Startimes already have their mast installed on the ground. All we have to do is show up at the facility whenever we are ready and flip the switch, and everyone can start having fun. In other words, we’re nearly there. Because of the Startimes agreement, the entire country can be launched in a single day. However, there is a monetary implication. “Startimes, whose mast we will use, must be paid, and it is not small money,” the person stated.
According to the source, while StarTimes did not charge because of the (Startimes/NTA alliance), it merely agreed in principle that its facilities might be used, with the condition that FG was still owed for the earlier launches.
He stated that the completion of the DSO project is dependent on the next government. If a new minister is chosen tomorrow, he will be briefed and then determine how to proceed, according to him. It can request a new arrangement.”
He stated that if the new minister requests a fresh agreement, he has numerous possibilities. He stated that he has the option of using a satellite, in which case masts are not required. He stated that while some African countries employ Startimes services, some places still rely on Satellite and that “the new minister can also look at the usage of Satellite to consolidate on Startimes facilities.”
Another difficulty confronting the DSO, according to him, is rapidly growing technology. “The problem is that technology was not at this level when DSO was conceived.” Right today, technology has advanced beyond where we were ten years ago. As a result, the DSO architecture is said to have evolved and grown more affordable. Previously, you almost had to have a mast everywhere, but I no longer believe it is required. You have the option of using Satellite directly, DMT/DSB, or Arise.
“The stakeholders must come together and review the White Paper (which must be changed) because it is the foundational standard for DSO.” Because of technological advancements, the White Paper has become obsolete. So, what can be done now is to bring all stakeholders together, hammer out a new modality that will function much faster, and then agree on and introduce an addition to the White Paper, which will then be rolled out immediately,” he added.
