SES satellite operator to provide platform for Nigeria Digital Switchover

Global satellite operator SES, signed a multi-year agreement with Cable Channels Nigeria to provide reliable and stable video platform. This is via SES’s prime orbital position 28.2 degrees East, for the provision of Digital Terrestrial Television and Direct to Home broadcast platforms in Nigeria. SES will utilise teleport services provided by its local partner Computer Warehouse Group.

Cable Channels Nigeria, a company licensed by the Nigeria National Broadcasting Commission, is the certified content aggregator and platform owner for the free-to-air DTT and DTH platforms in Nigeria, and is playing a key role in the Nigeria Digital Switchover process by getting channels onto the land-based DTT network and onto satellite as DTH, both offered under the brand FreeTV.

“This agreement with SES will have a massive impact on consumers as we move towards the Nigeria Digital Switchover process. It moves over 25 million households from three to four analogue channels to 15 channels at launch, increasing to at least 30 channels in digital quality picture and sound,” said Mohammed Bawa, Vice Chairman of Cable Channels Nigeria.

SES will be providing the space segment and specific platform services for the DTH service which will be used to feed the DTT transmitters around the country – a hybrid DTH and DTT solution. Using teleport services provided by SES local teleport partner CWG, the channels are aggregated from all over Nigeria by way of microwave, fibre, IP or satellite, and then multiplexed before uplink to the ASTRA-2F satellite at 28.2 degrees East.

“SES is proud to be Cable Channels Nigeria’s partner of choice and at the forefront of the DSO process of the most populous nation in Africa. The service will provide 100% coverage for Nigeria DSO through DTT and DTH and gives viewers the opportunity to receive high quality TV throughout the country, regardless of their location. It will also give them access to multiple local, regional and national channels,” said Ibrahima Guimba-Saidou, Senior Vice President, SES Commercial in Africa.

“Computer Warehouse Group is elated to be the teleport services provider for this landmark project, through its strategic alliance of over 15 years with SES. We believe that the introduction of Free to Air, Direct to Home digital TV, to the Nigerian broadcasting landscape through digital technology will improve the clarity and quality of signals as well as create more awareness of local products and services. This noteworthy feat seamlessly aligns with Computer Warehouse Group’s goal of enabling growth through technology,” said James Agada, Chief Executive Officer, Computer Warehouse Group.

“This is a monumental event, because with the switchover, we are revolutionising the broadcast landscape and architecture, as well as the local, state and national economy. More importantly, we are democratising the right to know, the right to knowledge and the right to be informed,” said the Honourable Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, at the launch of the pilot phase of the Digital Broadcasting switchover in Jos, Plateau State.

SES is a satellite operator with a fleet of more than 50 geostationary satellites. Cable Channels Nigeria is a consortium of licensed Cable TV operators. The consortium of licensed Cable TV operators started private broadcasting in Nigeria and pioneered digital Pay TV broadcasting as the country set out on this journey of transition since 2009.

Computer Warehouse Group is a provider of ICT solutions, across West, Central, and Eastern Africa.

The deadline for the switchover from analogue to Digital Terrestrial Television set on 17 June 2015, heralds the development of all-digital terrestrial broadcast services for sound and television for 119 countries belonging to ITU Region-1, Europe, Africa, Middle East and Central Asia, and Islamic Republic of Iran.

The 17 June 2015 deadline for switching off analogue television broadcasting in the UHF band was set by ITU Member States at the Regional Radio Communication Conference in 2006, known as the GE06 Regional Agreement. Several countries that are party to the GE06 Agreement, as well as many who are not, have already made the transition.

The new digital GE06 Plan provides not only new possibilities for structured development of digital terrestrial broadcasting but also sufficient flexibilities for adaptation to the changing telecommunication environment.

Digital TV broadcasting offers many advantages over analogue systems for end-users, operators and regulators. Apart from increasing the number of programmes, digital systems can provide new innovative services, such as interactive TV, electronic programme guides and mobile TV as well as transmit image and sound in high-definition and ultra-high definition.

Digital TV requires less energy to ensure the same coverage as for analogue while decreasing overall costs of transmission. The more efficient use of radio spectrum brought on by digital TV also allows for the so-called digital dividend resulting from the freeing up of much-needed spectrum for use by other services, such as mobile broadband.