MultiChoice Launches DTT in Namibia

MultiChoice on 18 February 2005 celebrated the formal launch of Digital Terrestrial Television in Southern Africa. The honourable minister of Information and Broadcasting in Namibia Mr Nangolo Mbumba cut the ribbon at the transmitter site and opened for operations of what is thought to be the first commercial DTT broadcast in Southern Africa.

“I am glad that MultiChoice, which is the leading digital satellite broadcaster over Africa, has chosen Windhoek to launch this system as a pilot, the first in Africa, – putting Windhoek subscribers at the cutting edge of television innovation” Mbumba said.

The official launch on the 18th February 2005 marks the conclusion of the successful and ambitious analogue switch-off plan and  migration to digital. Speaking at the launch ceremony Mr Kobus Bezuidenhout, General Manager MultiChoice Namibia remarked that he was especially proud that Namibia was selected as the first DTT broadcast site and underlined the enabling regulatory framework that made this project possible.

Discussing some benefits of DTT, Nolo Letele CEO MultiChoice South Africa remarked that “the quality of the broadcast is better, especially the audio which is comparable to CD quality sound” and “its easier for the consumer to tune in”. Letele highlighted that “in the past an analogue transmitter gave one channel per frequency, while the new digital system gives six channels per frequency”.

The technical switch-over took place on 4 February 2005 when the analogue pay TV service was switched off and subscribers seamlessly migrated on the Digital Terrestrial Television.    “We literally in a time-frame of 20 minutes switched-off analogue and switched on digital” said Seven Foster, DTT specialist with signal distributor Orbicom.

Using the same spectrum as previously used for one analogue television channel the new DTT system delivers: M-Net; SuperSport 1; SABC Africa; Discovery; and Channel O.

Thanks to Gerhard Petrick for the information
Item added: 22nd February 2005

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Last page update: 29th November 2010, Barry Tew