Preparation towards digital switch heats up in Yaounde

It is known to many that Cameroon and a number of African countries have less than eleven months to switch to the digital mode of broadcasting.

At the level of government, a committee in charge of facilitating the migration has been working since 2009 to delineate such an important technological mutation.

The committee which is headed by the Prime Minister and Head of government is made up, amongst other important members, of the Minister of Communication, the Managing Directors of CRTV and CAMTEL and a pool of experts in a number of domains.

Some of the issues specified in the document dubbed Cameroon Digital Television Project produced by the committee include; the legal frame work, technical options, human resources , financing, and strategic partners needed to assist the government.

The working document was presented to News Room journalists of the Cameroon Radio and Television this 14th July 2014 by a group of experts.

Journalists realized at the end of the session that many groundbreaking measures shall accompany the digital switch. Some of the most salient are;

• A necessary presidential decree modifying the audio-visual landscape in Cameroon. • CRTV identified as nerve centre of the switch • CRTV alone obtains six of the 30 available channels on the bouquet • The production and broadcast chains of the corporation shall be split into two separate entities • Some 50 engineers, 200 technicians, 200 technico-artistic staff shall be trained to facilitate the switch • Very many jobs shall be created.

After the four presentations made, experts answered a series of questions but all were agreed that the digital switch, to kick-in in less than eleven months, shall be unprecedented.

It is worth mentioning that Cameroon is a signatory of the United Nations Geneva Agreement that requires that all countries go digital by June 2015 .