Rwanda’s communications authority Rwanda Utilities Regulatory Authority, RURA, has said its firm on its resolve to switch off analogue TV signal on Friday.
The digital coverage is approximately 95 percent, while the analogue currently lags with 50 percent, in the country. According to director of RURA Patrick Nyirishema, the government decided in 2008 to digitize the entire network of Rwanda Broadcasting Agency in line with the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) deadline for analogue-to-digital switchover in June 2015.
RURA has increasingly continued with the digital migration since the beginning of the year. On January 31, 2014, analogue transmitters in Kigali were turned off.
RURA’s head of communication Jean Baptiste Mutabazi stated: “Because of the time needed to import distribution constraints and decoders, we took on a phase approach for analogue transmitter switch-off.”
Four companies including Transafrica, Sorim, Star Africa Media and Tele 10 satisfy the conditions licensed to import decoders.
Rwanda will be the second country after Tanzania within mainland Sub-Saharan Africa to migrate fully to digital.