Zambia: Parliament calls for speeding up pace on digital migration

Zambia’s Parliamentary Committee on Information and Broadcasting presented a report on digital migration to Parliament on July 1 in which it recommended the need for the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting Services to urgently put in place measures to ensure smooth transition from analogue to digital broadcasting.

Presenting the report, committee chairperson Mwansa Kapeya said there was need for the Ministry of Information to adequately prepare for the migration because very little preparation had been made while the deadline date is only five years away.

Mr Kapeya cited the inadequate sensitisation of citizens on migration, lack of a budgetary allocation to the process, the lack of a mechanisms to control the entry of electronic goods that would become obsolete after 2015, and the  lack of a taskforce to handle the issues.

He urged the government to either waive tax on set top boxes (STBs) that is decoders, or subsidise them in order for the majority of poor Zambians who live on less than a dollar a day to have access to information when digital migration switchover takes place in 2015.

Kapeya expressed concern that Zambia could become a dumping ground for electronic goods that would soon become obsolete. He recommended that the Ministry of Information collaborate with other ministries and environmental bodies to deal with the waste that would result from the dumping.

The committee compiled its report after listening to submissions from media associations that included MISA Zambia and undertook a study tour.

- August 09, 2010 by MISA Zambia

.................

Source: www.misa.org  (received via email alert on 09.08.2010)