Zambia National Broadcasting Corporation (ZNBC) is now ready for digital migration, the minister of Information and broadcasting services has said.

Dr. Joseph Katema said ZNBC has already bought the necessary equipment, including digital transmitters, which is planned to be mounted to start the digital migration process.

As part of the migration process, the minister said the Zambian government is setting up two provincial television stations, which were expected to be operational next year. This development comes as the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) has set June 2015 as the global digital television migration deadline.

Katema added that the new television stations are expected to provide access to information to people in rural areas to help them effectively participate in what the government says is national development.

He said the Zambian government believes that ZNBC has an existing strong infrastructural base to enable it to rollout provincial television stations alongside the digital migration project.

“The Zambian government set aside K21 million ($4 million) in the 2014 national budget for the construction of the two television stations,” Katema said.

However, the country’s digital migration tender remains cancelled after the confusion that characterised the awarding of the tender to a Chinese company last year.

The Zambian government has so far not given the tender to another company in order to implement the digital migration project.

As a result, the Southern African country failed to beat the 2013 regional deadline to complete its digital migration.

Additionally, the country’s cabinet has not yet approved the digital migration policy to facilitate the digital migration process.

The first digital migration policy was rejected by private radio and television stations on ground that they were not consulted on the formulation of the policy.