Safaricom gets go-ahead to import digital set-top boxes

Telecoms operator Safaricom has applied for a digital broadcasting licence as it aims to take advantage of the convergence coming with digital TV migration to deepen its presence in the wireless Internet market.

The move comes a little more than a year after the firm revealed an interest in entering the TV-on-demand market.

Francis Wangusi, the director general of the Communications Authority of Kenya (CA), said Safaricom applied for the licence two weeks ago complete with approval for a set-top box — the gadget that converts analogue signals to digital.

“Safaricom is the latest firm that has sought type approval for a set-top box. They have also applied for a digital broadcasting licence but we have yet to approve that,” Mr Wangusi said, adding that the regulator was still considering the possible impact of television signals on the quality of telecoms services.

Bob Collymore, the Safaricom chief executive said they are mainly interested in using the set-top boxes to deliver Internet to households that own a TV set. He has in the past spoken of selling Internet and TV as a package.

If awarded a licence, he said, Safaricom would deepen its plan to establish a presence in the emerging broadcasting sector by taking competition to the doorsteps of the mainstream media.

Mr Wangusi said the CA had approved Safaricom’s set-top box, giving it an advantage in capturing the emerging home Internet market.

Safaricom plans to sell the universal set-top box in the local market, meaning buyers will also have access to all free-to-air TV channels.

The telecoms operator’s approach to the emerging digital broadcasting dispensation is similar to that of Africa Digital Network (ADN), the company owned by the three media houses that have been at war with the government over digital migration.

ADN, which has a self-provisioning licence, plans to import universal set-top boxes for which consumers will not pay monthly fees, but come with add-ons such as wireless Internet access.

READ: Top media firms to stir market with free to air digital boxes

Broadcasters and telecommunication service providers have never been in direct competition but the ongoing switch to digital broadcasting appears to be setting the stage for broader technology-driven changes in the market that may in future see Safaricom offer some TV content. 

In the new digital dispensation, telecommunication companies such as Safaricom, Wananchi Group, and Telkom Kenya can offer broadcast services such as video on demand, taking competition a notch higher.

Broadcasters, on the other hand, have a chance to offer Internet services to home users and earn extra revenue. Competition is particularly expected to intensify in key areas such as Internet service provision as well as dissemination of news.

The ADN consortium dominates Kenya’s media scene, controlling 87 per cent of the TV market and 80 per cent of radio audiences.

To provide Internet services, broadcasters will have to either to partner with other Internet service providers or invest in own infrastructure.

Kenya switched off analogue television broadcasting transmission for Nairobi and its environs on December 31 but NTV, QTV, KTN and Citizen TV were allowed by the court to continue broadcasting.

Analogue transmission in Mombasa, Malindi, Nyeri, Meru, Kisumu, Webuye, Kakamega, Kisii, Nakuru, Eldoret, Nyahururu (Nyadundo), Machakos, Narok and Londiani (Rongai) was switched off on February 2.

The last switch-off that covers Garissa, Kitui, Lodwar, Lokichogio, Kapenguria, Kabarnet, Migori,Voi, Mbwinzau/Kibwezi, Namanga and all other remaining sites will be done on March 30 ahead of the global deadline set for June 17.

The three media houses were awarded a digital frequency for Nairobi on December 15, just 16 days before the migration deadline, prompting them to seek redress from the Supreme Court.

ADN’s lawyers argued that two weeks was insufficient for their clients to purchase and install transmitters since the equipment can only be tailor-made once frequencies are awarded.

The media houses added that it was not possible to purchase, market and distribute set-top boxes by the end-of-year deadline, hence the application in court to extend it.

The Supreme Court, however, allowed the CA should to stick to its deadline of digital migration in Nairobi and other areas in the country by mid next month, even as it ordered the regulator to reinstate the BSD licence and frequencies it had awarded ADN before withdrawing.

After the court victory, the CA moved to the broadcasting houses’ transmitting sites in the outskirts of Nairobi and forcefully shut down the analogue transmission stations.

The three media house have since agreed to get back on air in Nairobi and its environs Thursday evening when the three-week local TV programming blackout is expected to end.

Kenyans have been relying on government-owned Kenya Broadcasting Corporation and the privately-owned K24, which is linked to President Uhuru Kenyatta’s family, for daily television news.

Media owners say the forceful switch over is meant to coerce them to hand over their signal and content to other distributors.

Players who have been licenced to distribute the digital signals include the government-owned Signet and the Pan African Network Group.