The government of Mozambique could ban imports of analogue televisions and radios as the country commits to migrate to digital technology by 2015, the country’s telecommunications regulator said late last week in Maputo.

A law prohibiting the import of analogue devices into the country is being proposed the National Communications Institute of Mozambique (INCM), says the president of this organisation Isidoro da Silva.

“This will not be unilaterally implemented by the regulator, as it has to coordinate its activities with [the Ministries of] Finance and Trade,” said da Silva, speaking at the Forum of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) on Digital Migration, which was hosted in Maputo.

“But the central idea is to prevent the country becoming a dump site for electronic equipment,” da Silva said.

Da Silva further noted that the proposal could be presented to government within two weeks.