As part of its vision to offer 10, 000 African villages free access to digital broadcast reception, the Nigerian Television Authority (NTA) in partnership with StarTimes Television has commenced distribution of digital decoders with the project launch in Hulumi village in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).
Villagers in the remote community located in Abuja Municipal Area Council (AMAC), were excited with the free gifts. At the event about 20 set of digital decoder was given out.
The Vice President of StarTimes, Ms. Guo Ziqi while speaking at the satellite pilot in Hulumi village said the aim was to translate the situation that only the top class could enjoy and have access to digital TV.
She revealed that StarTimes presently runs its operations in more than 30 countries in Sub-Saharan African with almost 10 million subscribers.
Ziqi explained that in Nigeria, StarTimes and NTA started a joint venture seven years ago, stressing that StarTimes has been insisting to leverage local strategies to operate, which has not only helped to boost television industry in Nigeria but also created employment opportunities.
She stated: “President Xi addressed that China will provide satellite TV reception to 10,000 African villages on the Forum of China-Africa Cooperation, so here we are. As one major channels of getting information from the world, satellite TV is a door to connect villages with outside world.
“After the official launch of this satellite TV project, people will not only enjoy Nigerian indigenous TV programs, but also watch fantastic programmes from China and other countries in the world,” Ziqi said.
Meanwhile, the Director General of NTA, Yakubu Ibn Muhammed, said NTA/Star TV is currently operating from 80 sites, located in 34 states of the country and the Federal Capital Territory.
According to him, “information they say is power, this power unfortunately is mostly available to people living in urban areas because most service providers concentrate their energy in providing services to areas where they are most likely to make maximum profit.
To this end, he said NTA/StarTV network has a mission to enable every African family affords digital TV and enjoy its beauty.
He stressed; “We have therefore decided to provide access of digital TV to some relative small communities in Nigeria. NTA/Star network is trying to complement government’s effort by providing access to satellite TV to some small communities across Nigeria.”
Muhammed explained that this involves, “giving 20 sets of direct to home satellite TV decoders, two sets of satellite projector TV receiver complete with solar power supply, a set of 32″ digital TV integrated with digital terrestrial as well as digital satellite receiver.”
He revealed that five villages would benefit from this initiative, stressing that it includes; two villages in the FCT, two in Nassarwa state and one in Kwara state.
The DG noted that the federal government was committed to providing this facility to more villages in the near future and we would also provide maintenance of the facility free of charge for the next one year.