The Director General, National Broadcasting Commission, Mr. Emeka Mba has said that the securing of the hosting rights of the African Digital Switchover Forum will add more impetus to Nigeria’s digital switchover project. He announced this at the weekend, during the formal signing of the hosting agreement with the CTO in Abuja.
NBC-DG,-Emeka-MbaThe National Broadcasting Commission had last week secured the right to host the 11th African Digital Switchover Forum in May, 2016. Mba described the event as very significant to the country’s digital switchover project and the development of the broadcast industry; and pledged the Commission’s total commitment to ensuring that Nigeria successfully hosts the Forum and participates fully at the event.
The event hosting agreement was signed between NBC on behalf of Nigeria and the Commonwealth Telecommunications Organisation, CTO which is expected to be hosted in the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja.
The Secretary General of the Commonwealth Telecommunications Organisation, Mr. Shola Taylor, who signed on behalf of CTO, on his part, pointed out that Nigeria won the hosting rights amongst other African countries that indicated interest because the National Broadcasting Commission showed unrivalled interest and commitment to Nigeria’s successful hosting of the event.
He assured the Commission of CTO’s full support towards the success of the proposed event. The global event provides a unique and authoritative annual meeting point for policymakers and regulators to interact with broadcasters, content developers, broadcast network infrastructure providers and operators, equipment manufacturers and opinion leaders to discuss challenges, solutions and opportunities in the ever competitive and innovative broadcasting industry.
The event which has held 10 editions in the past decade has been a major contributor to the global effort to migrate analogue broadcasting systems to more spectrum-efficient digital platforms, with discussions focused on challenges faced by Commonwealth countries in Africa, the Caribbean and the Pacific. Since its launch in South Africa in 2005, the event has been hosted predominantly by South Africa and in 2014 by Tanzania. Nigeria will be hosting it for the first time.
