The Nigerian Broadcasting Commission (NBC) has launched the Kaduna phase of the Digital Switch Over (DSO), signalling the commencement of the full roll-out of digital broadcasting across the state capital and environs.

Speaking at the DSO launch in Kaduna, the Director General of NBC, Suleiman Kawu who described the launch as revolutionary in the Nigerian broadcasting ecosystem, said 30 free channels would be made available for residents upon the switch over.

He added that Set-Top Boxes (decoders) will soon be provided for the commencement.

Before now, the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) had given Nigeria a deadline of June 2017 to switch from analogue to digital across the country.

But the current administration of President Muhammadu Buhari has at last edged the country into the league of the digital world.

The journey started on April 30, 2016 in Jos, the Plateau State capital, when the Minister of Information and Culture launched the pilot phase of the Federal Government’s digital transmission project that kick started the digitization process in the country.

Kawu says although the DSO will not take place in one fell swoop across the country, the Federal Government remains resolute in its commitment to meeting the 2017 deadline for the DSO.

With the successfully implementation, there are renewed hopes for content providers to compete favourably with their foreign counterparts. (Channels TV)