Cape Verde Begins DTT Roll-Out

The Republic of Cape Verde, an archipelago off the coast of West Africa, has begun its transitions to digital. DVB Services, which provides the registration services for DVB, confirms that the country’s application for DVB Identifiers have been allocated. The country, which opted for DVB-T2, can now begin its roll-out of digital television.

DVB Identifiers aid the unique identification of DVB broadcasts, DVB networks and interactive applications. All DVB broadcasts, whether over satellite, cable, terrestrial or IP networks, use DVB’s Service Information (DVB-SI, EN 300 468) standard to help receivers automatically tune to available broadcasts.

It is planned that the first phase of the country’s digital roll-out will cover the islands of Santiago, Maio, Sao Vicente and Sal, covering 12 of the 22 municipalities of the country, or around 65-70% of the population. The second phase would cover the remaining five inhabited islands of Santo Antao, Sao Nicolau, Boa Vista, Fogo and Brava, which would increase coverage to around 93-98% of Cape Verde’s population.

The president of the National Communications Agency (ANAC) of Cape Verde, David Gomes has earlier revealed that the ANAC had met with a variety of manufacturers and importers from China, Taiwan and Europe to ensure the supply of set-top boxes and televisions. The average price of a set-top box is around US$30-40.

It is expected that analog switch-off will take place in 2017.