Angola creates digital television migration working group

The Angolan government has created an inter-ministry working group to kick-off the country’s migration from analogue to digital television, including the setting up of an initial pilot project. The working group includes members from the Telecommunications and Information Technologies and Social Communication ministries, chaired by the National Director of Telecommunications, Eduardo Domingo Sebastian.

The working group is to investigate the country’s current position in order to establish the pilot program and the schedule of work that will be required for the migration process. The working group is also to assess the investment required for the launch of Angola’s first satellite (Angosat 1) scheduled for 2017. The satellite will be used for TV signal distribution as part of the new DTT infrastructure.

The original plan, from 2014, was that digital terrestrial television (DTT) would reach 117 municipalities by June 2017. To coordinate the implementation a body called Televisão Digital de Angola (TVDA) was created with the participation of Angola Telecom and Televisão Pública de Angola.

A budget of $60 million (EUR 52 million) was also allocated for a communications program, which would aim to inform the public of the change over to the new system. In 2014 it was announced that a state subsidy for the purchase of decoders would also be available.

Angola will use the DVB-T2 standard as used in other African countries.