17 Jan 2014

Botswana is a country standing on the edge of a media revolution, owing to its readiness for the analogue to digital migration process that is due to be complete in 2015.

These were the sentiments of the Minister of Presidential Affairs and Public Administration, Mr Mokgweetsi Masisi while briefing members of the public media after a tour of the Mass Media Complex by the Japanese Minister of Internal Affairs and Communications, Mr Yoshitaka Shindo on Friday (January 17).

Mr Masisi said that the Integrated Services Digital Broadcasting-Terrestrial (ISDB-T) Japanese digital television standard that the country is currently adopting would transfigure the country’s media operations. “While other countries in the region chose the European standard, Botswana as a sovereign state took the decision, as a government that has a track record of being systematic and rational, to use the Japanese model which we found to have the most efficacy,” he said.

He said that the ‘deal breaker’ in the decision to use the ISDB-T model was that it was not just effective, but the cost would be reasonable, dispelling the feeling from certain quarters that implementation would be more costly than following other African states in using the European model. He said the government sought advice from international experts and came to the conclusion that the country would be best suited to using ISDB-T.

Mr Masisi said that the benefits of ISDB-T included having an emergency warning system, which could be used in disaster situations including fire outbreaks, and floods.

Adding his worth, Mr Shindo said that ISDB-T is the most advanced international standard on digital terrestrial television broadcasting format and Botswana, the first African country to adopt the standard, would derive multifarious benefits from its adoption.

He said the system, also adopted by South American countries, most notably Brazil, can be used to combat crime through monitoring of the movement of livestock, people and cars through its tracking system. He also said that it could be used in mobile phones, it has the emergency warning system that can avert disasters.

Mr Shindo said that in March this year a pilot project of the emergency warning broadcast system would take place and that in May a pilot project of digital-based distance learning would also be undertaken.

Buttressing Mr Masisi’s argument that one of the benefits of using ISDB-T was the full logistical support of the Japanese state, Mr Shindo promised Botswana full cooperation on digital migration, adding that “Japan is a country which keeps promises and if you deal with Japan you always obtain great results.  ENDS