By MUHAMMAD IDRIS

The Federal Government has fixed Dec. 2028 as the deadline for final transition from analogue to digital television broadcasting.

The Director-General, National Broadcasting Commission (NBC), Mr Charles Ebuebu, made this known in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja.

Ebuebu said the Dec. 2028 deadline, marks the final analogue switch-off.

“We put a timeline for analogue switch-off. Before that time, a lot of things will be put in place. This is just phase one,” he said.

He said subsequent phases would cover paid television services, studio development and designated production centres for content creators.

The NBC boss said audience measurement was also progressing, with a proof of concept completed in about 7,000 homes in Lagos, while implementation had commenced in Abuja.

According to him, the commission will make the phases public after consultations with key stakeholders, including the Broadcasting Organisation of Nigeria, to secure their buy-in.

He said the analogue switch-off would free up valuable spectrum for other uses, describing it as a strategic national asset.

Ebuebu said the spectrum will be professionally valued before allocation to users such as telecommunications, application and financial services companies.

“I won’t put a sum to it, but it is valued upwards of about 50 billion dollars. Consultants will determine its actual value before allocation,” he said.

On obsolete broadcasting equipment, Ebuebu said the commission was developing a policy based on expert input and international best practices.

He said the Digital Switch Over white paper required broadcasters to separate content production from transmission, with transmission handled by signal distributors such as NIGCOMSAT.

According to him, obsolete analogue equipment may be repurposed where possible, while government will be approached to absorb unusable assets to prevent environmental hazards from industrial waste. (NAN)