Why digital migration shouldn’t be a crisis

It’s interesting to note what the Kenyan online community is saying about the current digital migration crisis.

I stumbled on a comment on one of our Nation Media Group’s online platforms where the contributor had this to say: “Something is really worrying about ADN’s (Africa Digital Network) counter moves with respect to the law.

First, according to CA (Communications Authority of Kenya), ADN shut down its digital TV broadcasting illegally; second, ADN was not meant to broadcast online.

“So, is this not a form of double-speak and impunity cloaked as a media protest?... But the newscast brings up another important point, Kenyans are in need of true broadband at affordable rates”.

The government needs to re-examine the National Broadband Strategy (NBS) paper 2013 to 2017, whose implementation was expected to have started from 2013. Had we progressively implemented it, most issues on digital migration would have been professionally addressed.

According to the document, broadband definition in Kenya for the period 2013 to 2017 is as follows: “Connectivity that is always on and that delivers a minimum of 5mbps to homes and businesses for high speed access to voice, data, video and applications for development”.

Kenya and South Africa are the only countries in Africa to have a national broadband strategy in place. Broadcasting services will benefit from broadband connectivity by delivering multi-media content to the end user in a variety of formats, and using different platforms in a converged environment.

After the government forcefully switched off the analog signal, the affected broadcasters (NTV, Citizen, KTN and QTV) migrated to the web to try and reach a sizeable number of Kenyans.

However, our rural communities are missing out — a sparse population, capacity to pay for services and literacy levels, among other factors compound the issue.  

Spectrum is fundamental for ICTs — telecommunications and broadcasting. It was expected that by 2013, as recorded in the NBS, the sector regulator would have provided a transparent, comprehensive and predictable spectrum plan with a shelf life of five years which investors could rely on.

This begs the question; can investors rely on CA in terms of being allocated spectrum and go to sleep knowing they can roll out their business without interruption?

While CA says that it doesn’t want to be lectured by media about allocation of frequencies, NBS on the other hand expects that by now the regulator should have put in place a publicly available five-year plan on available spectrum and digital dividend, and how the same will be allocated and used.

Migrating Kenyans to the digital platform was also meant to bring down the cost of accessing TV services.

NBS proposes that the government subsidises or zero-rates tax and duty on access devices — set-top boxes (STBs) to some extent have been tax exempt; at the same time the government should support local manufacturers of the devices.

It’s important to note that South Africa has encouraged the setting up of manufacturing lines for STBs and created a subsidy programme.

The Kenyan STB market is valued at over Sh10 billion to migrate current viewers. What worries me is that all this money will end up in Asian economies.

Whereas NBS proposes supporting local assembly lines for STBs, it’s sad that our digital migration will be rolled out without any local value addition. 

CA has requested the Kenya Bureau of Standards to make sure STBs imported to Kenya meet required standards.

On the other hand, NBS is alive to the fact that “technology and choices available among the many different types of end-user equipment are so broad and change so rapidly that it would be risky for government to attempt to dictate what devices customers should use.

“The most effective programmes will provide the right form of stimulus and financial assistance while leaving choice ultimately in the hands of the marketplace.”

NBS states that local financial institutions should be at the forefront in funding ICT projects. To address this, there is need to stimulate private sector investments and promote public-private partnerships.

Low risk

The expected outcome is to see an increase in the amount of investments going into the ICT sector, particularly with regard to broadband-related projects.

Financial institutions like to put their money where risk is low; how will they put funds in a sector where licences and frequencies are withdrawn on raw emotions?

For Kenya to be a broadband-rich country, NBS suggests the use of innovative financial tools such as launching a broadband infrastructure bond. Countries such as France and Australia have successfully exploited this facility.

To roll out a broadband network covering the whole of Kenya, the government will need Sh250 billion. To raise the funds the government will need private partners.

Stakeholders should make sure that necessary legislation is put in place to fully operationalise the NBS document by 2017.

They should particularly be keen on operationalising the Universal Service Fund which will go towards extending broadband, telecommunication and broadcast services to under-served regions.

Effort should be made to devolve ICTs to counties through ICT ward funds as proposed in the NBS. This should be spearheaded by the government.

Failure to set up the fund will provide the Opposition with fodder to feed their referendum Bill and root for the establishment of ward development funds to finance ICTs, among other projects.

Baraza works at Nation Media Group, IT Department and also serves as a technical advisor for Africa Digital Network Ltd (ADNL). [email protected]