The Japanese government is investing approximately $10 million in Angola's digital terrestrial television (DTT) project, enabling the Southern African country to transition from analogue television broadcasting while modernising terrestrial transmission infrastructure and equipment in key locations.
According to Ver Angola, a local online publication, the Japanese ambassador to Angola, Hiroaki Sano, and the director of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs' International Cooperation Directorate, José da Silva, signed an agreement earlier this week to launch the DTT Broadcasting Network Development Project.
This comes as many African nations struggle to transition from analogue to DTT; while some have made progress, many others face significant challenges in meeting deadlines and ensuring a smooth transition in accordance with the International Telecommunications Union's agreed-upon timelines, including a missed deadline of June 17, 2015.
The transition is critical for Japanese authorities because Angola is vulnerable to natural disasters, necessitating the implementation of emergency alert broadcasting to enable more effective and efficient communication of meteorological and disaster prevention information, making the transition to digital terrestrial systems urgent, according to the embassy.
The project includes the installation and modernisation of digital terrestrial transmission infrastructure and equipment at the Viana and Palcio da Jastica transmitter stations in Cidade, Luanda province, as well as the Sombreiro station in Bengueka city.
The Japan International Cooperation Agency will undertake the project in collaboration with the Angolan Ministry of Telecommunications, Information Technology, and Mass Communications.
“Currently, television broadcasting in the country is conducted in analogue format, predominantly in Portuguese. However, approximately 70% of the population speaks several national languages (ethnic) languages, which generates a high demand for subtitling and multilingual broadcasting- characteristics of the Japanese digital terrestrial broadcasting standards,” noted the Japanese Embassy.
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