Malawi’s government expects to contract China’s Huawei Technologies to install the country’s Digital Terrestrial Television (DTT) infrastructure.

Malawi plans to switch from an analogue to digital signal by year-end, in line with the December 31 deadline set by the Southern African Development Community (SADC).

The country also plans to have its first ever DTT signal by November 2013.

But the process has so far been challenged by a lack of resources, especially as the state is currently the sole bankroller of the project, according to reports.

Nevertheless, discussions between Malawi’s government and Huawei have been underway, says the Malawi News Agency (Mana).

"Initial negotiations were done on May 11 and we expect to undertake further discussions soon and award the contract to Huawei Technologies,” the digital migration coordinator in the ministry of information, Dennis William Chirwa, has said.

"The country will open up as the network is being installed for the supply of set top boxes (STBs) for the system which Malawians will have access to," he said.

The International Telecommunication Union (ITU) requires that all countries around the world switch from an analogue to a digital broadcasting signal by 2015.