Kenya's analogue switch off to begin with Nairobi in December 2013

Tuesday, August 6th, 2013

Residents of Nairobi and surrounding areas will be the first to switch over to digital TV broadcasting services on December 13.

The government today announced that Nairobi would pioneer other parts of the country in a phased switch-off plan scheduled to end on June 30, 2014.

According to the plan, analogue signals will go off air in Mombasa, Malindi, Nyeri, Meru, Kisumu, Webuye, Kisii, Nakuru and Eldoret on March 30 next year.

All the other areas across the country will be switched off on 30th June 2014 thus completing the transition from analogue to digital TV broadcasting six months ahead of the global deadline of June 17, 2015.

The Chairman of the Digital Television Committee (DTC), Principal Secretary for Information, Communications and Technology (ICT), Mr. Joseph Tiampati, unveiled the switch-off plan today at the Ministry’s headquarters in Nairobi.

The transition to digital TV broadcasting is aimed at ensuring that Kenya complies with international agreements on the digital migration arrived at during the Regional Radiocommunication Conference in 2006.

Digital migration will release spectrum for use in deployment of other ICT services including mobile broadband. The transition will also facilitate a wider choice of programmes, and allow for a diversity and plurality of content.

Since the launch of the digital migration by former President Mwai Kibaki in December 2009, the country has taken a number of steps to ensure that Kenyans migrate with minimal challenges including the Government waiver of import duty on set top boxes in the 2012/2013 Financial year.

Mr. Tiampati asked Kenyan entrepreneurs to take advantage of the transition to import set top boxes to meet the high demand.

“I also take this opportunity to urge members of the public to only purchase complaint set top boxes in order to enjoy the benefits of digital migration and not to be left out at the time of the analogue switch off,” he said.

He pledged the government’s commitment to ensure Kenyans are informed of this process through consumer education and awareness programmes in the coming months.