Kenya gets more Pay TV
GOVERNMENT
By BiztechAfrica - Aug. 10, 2012, 10:20 a.m.
By Semaj Itosno, Nairobi, Kenya
Chinese broadcaster StarTimes Media is expanding its Pay TV beyond Kenya’s capital, Nairobi.
The firm launched the pay TV signal in Kenya’s lake side city, Kisumu, two weeks after another firm, GO TV, shifted the battle for subscribers in the digital broadcasting market from Nairobi.
GO TV is a joint venture by MultiChoice and state broadcaster Kenya Broadcasting Corporation.
The move by the pay TV providers rides on the back of Kenya’s rush to beat its self-imposed digital migration deadline of December 2012.
The International Telecommunication Union had set June 2015 as the cut-off date for analogue broadcasting globally and African governments are battling to meet the deadline.
StarTimes Media CEO Leo Lee said Kenya was actively engaging in measures to shift from analogue to digital television platform and his company shall be playing a significant role in ensuring Kenyans enjoy the benefits of the switch.
“We intend to invest USD75 million by the year 2015 which will not only guarantee world class television service in Kenya but also provide employment to over 1,000 Kenyans,” said Leo Lee.
One of the incentives that the Kenya government has provided to make the transition more seamless was to waive the excise duty on DVBT-2 gadgets commonly referred to as set-top-boxes. The digital gadgets enable analogue TV sets access digital broadcasting signals meaning consumers with analogue TV sets need not buy digital sets to access digital broadcasting signals.
“The DVBT-2 signal is now available in Nairobi, Mombasa and Kisumu. By December it will be available in all parts of Kenya that have analogue signal. That will be about 80% of the population covered,” said Ministry of Information Permanent Secretary, Dr Bitange Ndemo.
The pay television providers, StarTimes and GOtv, are selling their digital terrestrial set-top boxes at Sh2,999 and Sh3,500 respectively, which is still expensive to majority of Kenyans.
According to Ndemo, the cost of set-top-boxes range from as little as USD5 for basic converter to USD100 for a more advanced converter but business people have not been importing the basic converters.
“There are proposals that the Government should actually buy this for consumers just like most countries have done. The trouble will be how to identify who to buy for,” said Dr Ndemo.
StarTimes Media will be providing its service at an introductory price of sh2, 999 for a plug and play decoder and has various packages ranging from Ksh500 to Ksh3,000 per month.
MORE GOVERNMENT NEWS
Nigeria mulls public key infrastructure
The Government of Nigeria, through the National Information Technology Development Agency, is planning to launch what it calls a Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) to secure the country's cyber space. Read MoreMinister Nsengimana commends Africa Digital Media Academy
Rwanda’s Minister of Youth and ICT, Jean Philbert Nsengimana, has commended the Africa Digital Media Academy for its work in teaching the youth to use ICTs. Read MoreAdvanced control centre aims to improve Ghana power
Ghana’s President, John Dramani Mahama, has inaugurated a USD16.8 million systems control centre constructed by the Ghana Grid Company at Kpone. Read MoreEgypt stages youth employment seminar
Egypt’s Minister of Communications and Information Technology, Atef Helmy along with the Minister of Youth Affairs and Sports, Dr Osama Yassin, this week hosted a high-level Youth Employment Generation in Egypt seminar. Read MoreDR Congo readies for world’s largest hydroelectric plant
The Democratic Republic of the Congo is preparing to build a hydroelectric plant that is expected to bring electricity to half of Africa. Read MoreBenin launches cyber security plan
Benin’s ICT Ministry is spearheading the launch of a national cyber security strategy and response centre. Read MoreICTs to be rolled out to Huambo schools
Angola’s Huambo province plans to accelerate the roll-out of ICT labs to schools across the province. Read MoreAngolan census pilot gets underway
Angolan Vice-President Manuel Domingos Vicente has launched the 15-day pilot census, ahead of the republic’s first national census in over 40 years. Read MoreBeing Pan-African symposium underway
Leading intellectuals from Africa and the African Diaspora are convening in Ethiopia for the African Union symposium “Being Pan-African.” Read MoreNCC: MNP is succeeding
Despite scepticism over MNP in a nation well used to owning multiple SIMs, Nigeria’s NCC says MNP is succeeding. Read MoreRELATED STORIES
FEATURED STORY
ICT opens doors for Kenyan slum dwellersA Nairobi based group is equipping high school girls from Nairobi's slums with ICT skills to help them participate meaningfully in building the economy.
BEST READ NEWS
IN DEPTH
Dollar-a-month broadband can change AfricaThe Microsoft-led 4Afrika TV white spaces project, taking broadband to rural people for as little as a dollar a month, is now expanding in Kenya and launching in Tanzania.
COMPANY NEWS
Samsung puts the spotlight on enterprise solutionsSamsung Electronics South Africa has announced its support of the upcoming Enterprise Mobility Forum.
Sage Pastel Evolution: the modern ERP tool for the modern Kenyan businessThis week’s Sage East Africa Conference, entitled Innovation Beyond Boundaries, attracted over 100 existing and potential customers to the Sankara Hotel in Nairobi.
Connected services boosts company payroll and HR administration in West AfricaConnected Services enables SMEs to extend their desktop payroll and HR with an online solution that eases the growing burden of HR managers and payroll administrators.
Alfred Nyagaka - Aug. 13, 2012, 10:47 p.m.
Good news guys. We hope as consumers we will have the best services ever.