By Kafayat Tijani
Digital Dialogue Nigeria 2012, a forum aimed at kick-starting the information and education aspects of digital broadcast migration in Nigeria, holds in Lagos between 5 and 6 December. The conference will afford participants the opportunity to assess Nigeria's preparedness for the digital migration deadline of 2015.
A release by the organisers stated: "Following the International Telecommunications Union, ITU, meeting in July 2006, Nigeria, among other countries, was mandated – under the GE06 Agreement – to migrate from analogue to digital broadcasting system by the year 2015.
But three years to the deadline, the Nigerian public is hardly aware of the planned migration, even though the Federal Government has given its nod to the ITU pronouncement and agreed to migrate to the new order by 2015". "The forum, which will bring together digital broadcast experts from the country and abroad, leading lights in the Nigerian media and other opinion moulders; hopes to expose Nigerians to the process and benefits of digital migrations".
Expected benefits are that digital migration will afford Nigerians better TV viewing experience, in terms of clearer pictures and better signals. It will also bring greater efficiency to spectrum use, boost the potentials of wireless innovation, lead to greater convergence of telecommunications and broadcasting services, among other economic gains.
