The Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) Summit was successfully held in Beijing last week, with over 3,200 participants from China, Africa and international organizations having attended the summit, making it the largest and most high-profile diplomatic event ever hosted by China.
The success of the FOCAC Beijing Summit has once again fully demonstrated that the traditional friendship between China and Africa enjoys a solid foundation and that China-Africa practical cooperation is full of vitality. It has set new grand goals for upgrading the relations between China and Africa, and China and Africa have always been close partners sharing weal and woe and the same destiny.
StarTimes, a digital TV operator as well as a Chinese influential media group, has been in the forefront of China-Africa Cooperation playing active roles in African digital migration progress, the project of Access to Satellite TV for 10,000 African Villages and African HIV/AIDS Prevent Campaign.
During the summit, StarTimes attracted 18 African presidents and distinguished guests who visited its Beijing headquarters where all of them expressed their admiration and support to StarTimes career in Africa.
StarTimes has been a strategic partner of respective Governments in their effort to achieve digital migration, to realize the satellite TV access in African rural areas while undertaking the project of “Access to Satellite TV for 10,000 African Villages”, and promoting the social development in fulfilling its corporate social responsibilities.
During the summit, Malawian President Peter Mutharika, Ghanaian President Nana Akufo-Addo, Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni and Mozambican President Filipe Nyusi met with StarTimes President Pang Xinxing in Beijing.
They commended StarTimes’ contribution in the project of “Access to Satellite TV for 10,000 African Villages” and expressed their support to the China-Africa Cooperation Project.
The project of “Access to Satellite TV for 10,000 African Villages” is a China-Africa Cooperation program, which was announced by Chinese President Xi Jinping on December 4th, 2015 when he was present at the Johannesburg Summit of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation. The project is aimed at enabling African families in rural areas to have access to the digital signal with high-quality images and rich TV programs.
There will be 10,112 villages in more than 20 African countries benefiting from the project of “Access to Satellite TV for 10,000 African Villages”. In Kenya, 800 villages will benefit from the project translating to 16,000 households and 2,400 public institutions.
Public institutions will be installed with StarTimes Projector TVs or one 32 inch Digital TV while 20 households in each vilage will receive satellite TV decoders and dish. Projector TVs and Digital TV set will be equipped with solar power systems and DTH access units.
As Africa’s leading digital TV operator, StarTimes is undertaking the whole project and will accomplish the project under the guide of Chinese and African governments.
In 2006, over 156 members of ITU in Geneva signed a binding treaty about digital broadcasting migration. African countries are committed to switching off analogue transmission and migrating to digital broadcasting by 2015, however, currently most of African countries haven’t achieved the goal. To realize digitalization of TV industry has also been an urgent task for African countries.
As a major system integrator, technology provider, network operator, and content provider in African television broadcasting industry, StarTimes plays a key role in the progress of African digital migration. StarTimes has been invloved in the successful digital transformation of Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania, Rwanda, Burundi and Zambia.
During the summit, with its technical strength and advanced signal transmission technology, StarTimes Group assisted Mozambique’s national TV station in broadcasting the China-Mozambique Investment Promotion Conference and Presidential Press Conference in Beijing. StarTimes also provided signal transmission channels for the Republic of the Congo, Zambia, Uganda, Cameroon and other countries, so that people in those countries could receive the latest news from Beijing.
Since 2008 when StarTimes Group went to Africa and cooperated with African governments in promoting the digitalization and informationization of African society, the company has established its presence in more than 30 countries, and are serviing more than 20 million users. It has become the fastest growing and the most influential digital TV operator in Africa.