New business opportunities open as digital migration takes shape

Araft of economic opportunities is emerging in Nigeria, Africa’s largest economy, as the country moves to implement the switch from analogue to digital broadcasting in consonance with the International Telecommunications Union’s (ITU) June 2015 deadline, according to analysts.

As a result, they have urged local businesses and start-ups to quickly position themselves to exploit these opportunities.

Digital Broadcasting Migration (DBM) is a process in which broadcasting services offered on the traditional analogue technology are replaced with digital-based networks over a specific period.

After taking several years to fashion out a feasible working procedure, Nigeria is readying itself to kick off the pilot phase in Jos, Plateau State capital, in June.

Emeka Mba, director-general, National Broadcasting Commission (NBC), says there would be grave socio-economic consequences for Nigeria if the country fails to meet the deadline.

According to him, the nation would not be competitive in the global digital arena and new businesses expected to spring up as a result digital migration would be lost.

“We are looking at building a new ecosystem with digital. The young men and women building apps and content on the digital platform will miss out on a big opportunity. New TV stations expected to be set up to provide news, sports, entertainment and informative programming will not be there. Lastly, the spectrum that the broadcast industry will give up to the telecoms industry for broadband deployment will not be available,” Mba said in an interview with BusinessDay.

He further said the commission was in the process of setting up broadcast fund, explaining that the NBC was in talks with multilateral funding agencies to get the needed buy-in. “Broadcasters, TV producers can access the fund to enable them produce quality TV content,” he added.

Some local businesses in the country are putting themselves in pole position to take advantage of the fresh opportunities digital migration would bring. BusinessDay gathered that the NBC has received a barrage of Expressions of Interests (EoI) from firms interested in manufacturing Set Top Box (STB) in Nigeria. The digital broadcasting experience is enabled by an STB connected to analogue TV set, or viewed via a digital TV set, and it offers a sharper, brighter picture with reduced ‘ghosting’ and interference.

For industry insiders, content is critical to digital television adoption.

“Digitisation is nothing without relevant content. Content is central to driving this digital migration. If going digital affords the capability to split one channel into 20, there must be quality content to keep people glued to the television,” said Tom Adaba, pioneer director-general of the NBC, in an interview.

Adaba said TV stations must begin to look inward, adding, “We must make programmes educative, relevant, and informative.”

Digital migration, industry insiders say, opens up a host of business opportunities for the Information and Communications Technology (ICT) sector as well as the local content and creative industries. It enables innovative business models by separating signal distribution providers from content producers, they say.

The NBC is moving in this direction. According to the commission, plans are underway to license several signal distributors in the country.

“A bid for EoI was put out in the papers and 19 companies submitted. Nine companies have been pre-qualified based on criteria set by Digiteam and NBC,” said Edward Amana, chairman, Digiteam, at the Digital Migration Summit held in Lagos. “These nine companies have six weeks to submit their technical and financial reports.”

The NBC has lamented that lack of funding constitutes a major drawback to the country meeting the deadline.

Bello Tukur, deputy chairman, Senate Committee on Information, said there were concerns that the National Assembly was not doing anything currently towards the appropriation of requisite funding to support the digital migration process.

“The 2014 Appropriation Bill has not been signed into law and there are a lot of reasons for the delay. We budget on the basis of what we have, the revenues we earn,” Tukur said, adding, however, “For the digitisation project, it depends on how you present your case to the house. You can still make representations, even if it means going through special funds.”

Sunday Olu Jetro, deputy chairman, Radio, Television and Theatre Workers Union of Nigeria (RATTAWU), who said there was no legislation backing the digitisation process, expressed reservation about government’s sincerity towards actualising the migration.

“Many state governments are still placing orders for analogue transmitters. State governments have not made commitment to digitisation. Stakeholders should look at the dangers of switching over without the enabling law in a country yet to distinguish between politics and governance,” he said.

Ben Uzor Jr