The country will fully migrate to the digital spectrum by the end of the year, Minister of Information and Communication Technology Nicholas Dausi has said.
The digital terrestrial television signal was supposed to have covered 90 percent of the country’s territory by December 2016, but it currently covers 55 percent.
Dausi disclosed this Thursday when he made a familiarisation tour of Times Group head office in Blantyre.
He said after the enactment of Access to Information (ATI) law, the government would move with speed to ensure the country is fully covered with the digital signal.
“The President has told me that if we don’t finalise the migration this year, we will be seen not to have worked. So you know what that means,” he said.
Earlier, the Malawi Communications Regulatory Authority (Macra), told The Daily Times that the delay in digital migration was due to installation of transmitters which is still in progress.
Dausi further disclosed that his ministry had met the Malawi Human Rights Commission to operationalise the ATI Act.
“The structures and the supervision will be done by Malawi Human Rights Commission,” he said.
Times Group Editor-in-Chief George Kasakula hailed the minister for the visit, saying it offered a platform to speak out the challenges that the private media is facing.
“We are a Malawian company and the government is our parent, we obviously cannot do without it. The television industry in the country is in its early stages and it is facing problems such as digital migration and expensive equipment. Our plea to the government is to give the industry time to grow before they start collecting taxes,” he said.
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