Ministry publishes draft plan to move to digital radio and TV

A draft plan to digitalise radio and television broadcasts at a cost of roughly 4.4 trillion VND (231.2 million USD) has been published by the Ministry of Information and Communications.
Once the period for expert comment has expired, the revised plan will be submitted for approval, the ministry said.
The ministry estimated digital TV would be available nationwide by 2020.
Key targets will be to assist people to buy digital television equipment, investigate methods of using television and improve knowledge about digital television channels.
The expected funds required, 1.3 trillion VND, will come from the State public telecommunications services fund.
Vietnam has many cable providers across the country each offering 45-50 channels.
It was reported in 2005 that the Vietnam Television Technology Investment and development company VTC had been given permission by the government to provide DVB-T services nationwide. This gave the green light for stations to be provided in all 64 Vietnamese provinces and cities.
Prior to this announcement VTC had been trialling DVB-T for three years.
Source: Vietnam plus
Item added: 8th March 2010