The changes that have taken place in the last five years in the digitization space have been monumental. The best way to understand these changes is to restrict this description to the transition from analogue to digital that has been the topic of debate in the region for the last few years. It would be foolhardy to attempt to describe the changes covering digitization as a subject and more so taking on the effects on the region. Restricting this conversation to broadcasting is useful because it presents some of the major ideas in micro form while also allowing us to chart or expand these observations in other related fields (macro).
It should be understood that the broad term 'digitization' in my view covers a lot more and could be stretched out to include some of the other developments such as the computerization which has invaded many of our service industries from banking, to insurance to the delivery and payment for power and electricity (utilities) and much more.
The Local Stations
Five years ago, we had about six notable local stations. WBS (Wavamuno Broadcasting Services), UBC (Uganda Broadcasting Coperation), TOP Television (Tower of Praise-Pastor Senyonga), NBS (a fairly recent entrant), NTV (owned by the Nation Group), Bukede TV(Owned by the Vision Group).
Most of all media activity in the country revolved around the work of the National Broadcaster which held the greatest coverage and had the deepest reach. Every four years when the World cup was held the eyes of over a billion people would focus on the single country which would host the event. The national carrier would then have the rights to broadcast the event. The same would take place for the olympics after two years (but also in the cycle of four). The hold the national broadcaster holds is still significant but a marked change in the effects of this, lies in the decreasing effect armies on the continent see in seizing the national broadcaster for significant military events (insurrections and coup detas). This discussion has to emerge in some part from the national broadcaster because even with the advent of the cable TV (and the decoder), the national broadcaster in conjunction with the UCC (Uganda Communications Commission) has played a central role in managing the transition both technically as well as in logistics and policy. For example, the UCC has been responsible for managing the content of certain broadcasters and the approval of devices which have flooded the market (this development a direct result of the march towards digitization).
As we mentioned earlier, the debate around digitization is much broader and in some regards covers computing and the internet where data transfers of information (which travels in bits) has to be managed and moved by modems which are modulators and signal translators. The same can also be said of telephony from which we have seen the move from cumbersome handsets to hand held devices that have become a multi billion dollar industry.
The Cable TV Providers
On the local scene, the largest foreign cable TV provider was DSTV which has its headquarters in South Africa, the same benefitted from from the popularity of sports (soccer in particular and more specifically the premier league and Champions league). Popularity of this platform led to the entrance of other providers such as Sports TV, Go TV, AZAM (very recent entrant) and Star Times (a chinese owned provider). Some of the providers have taken the industry by storm by merging the software side of the business with hardware as well as broadening the concept of digital space with that of telephone and broadcasting. The chinese for example broadened their reach on the continent by creating an equivalent platform to take over the internet connection space with companies like Huawei (modems, phones, routers, switches, hubs). But the internet device business has on the whole capitalized on the inroads were made much earlier by Telephone Service Providers which in the attempt to expand were also forced to adopt additional technologies.
Policy Issues and Legal Subjects
The proponents of the digitization have pushed this whole process with ideas such as freedom of information and right to access-information as key policy guidelines and directives aiming to place this at the heart of citizen development. In addition to this the MDG (Millennium Development Goals) and more specifically the goals regarding education, were also concerned in some regard with the transformation of the Education Sector by the inclusion of Information Communication Technology. The argument was that the internet and access to it would help improve learning and integration of students as well as interaction in a world that was increasingly being viewed a a global village.
Soon access to information was being viewed as a human right and a guarantor to development and the lifting of many in the third world from a viscous cycle of poverty. So while many providers benefitted from the massive profits that were being made at the start of this push for digitization, the United Nations began to push for legislation that was designed to reduce the cost of these services. The figure on the left shows consistency in off-net traffic but a marked rise in on-net traffic and a fairly low amount of outgoing traffic. This could mean that there maybe more opportunities to engage with local audiences than foreign ones and that these linkages may need to be expanded.
In addition to the policy issues we watched as countries at the coast made attempts to connect to underwater cables that would give them access to much faster fiber optic cabling that would increase the speed of internet. It is in this environment that NITA (currently headed by James Saka) was born to help manage internet infrastructure in Uganda. Already, the ICT Ministry at the time headed by Dr. Ham Mulira (currently advisor to the President for ICT) had already put in place the infrastructure for ministry to ministry meetings that would have completely simplified the meetings and dramatically reduced the need for costly Workshops (and the per diem that goes with them!).
The Rise of New Players
To date there are over twenty local station with a notable advantage over their former competition in that they now have access to a global audience. The right to religion and information have had the combined effect of increasing the stations that are run by religious groups which has also benefitted the faith based groups. New notable players are Urban TV (English channel owned by the vision group), HTV (Horizon TV), Delta TV, ABS TV (Started by a local Pastor-Pastor Yiga), Life TV (Tom Sembera), Lighthouse TV and many more. The figure below shows the annual telecommunications tax revenue figures for the year 2013 to 2014.
Nice article.
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