MPs to review UBC digital monopoly

Parliament is seeking to review a digital migration policy provision that had given a signal distribution monopoly to the Uganda Broadcasting Corporation (UBC).

 

Approved by Cabinet in April 2011, the policy framework was established to ensure a well-regulated and smooth transition from analogue to digital broadcasting, a global mandatory move as per the 2006 Geneva Radio Communications Conference.

 

The policy provided for the licensing of competent signal distributors that would control broadcasters, but it allowed UBC a five-year monopoly as distributor, a move other broadcasters protested.

 

New Vision has established that the public protests against the move to favour UBC has forced parliamentarians into considering a review of the policy and open up for other companies to compete for the signal distribution deal.

Nyombi Tembo,  the ICT state minister,  confirmed that MPs yielded to the expression of public discontentment and decided to undertake that policy review.

 

“Yes, I can confirm that the ICT parliamentary committee is also in support of a policy review after we were advised against moving with UBC as the only signal distributor. But for the time being, we shall need only one other company to work as a competitor with UBC,”  he said.

The development means that broadcasters will have options to choose the distributor they find competent enough to serve them. 

The National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) mounted pressure on the Government, urging that the creation of monopolies would compromise the quality of service delivery in addition to being out of fashion as far as the modern way of nurturing investments is concerned.

 

NAB also doubted UBC’s technical capacity to handle the advanced technology required to successfully support the broadcasting industry into the digital era.

 

 “We have so many fears for UBC being the signal distributor. It doesn’t have the moral ground. They are dishonest. How can you let them control us? Some of its people are being investigated by the Police. We are not going to keep quiet. It shouldn’t be UBC. We say no,” recent press reports quoted Capt. Francis Babu, the body chairman during a meeting with officials from the ICT ministry.

 

NAB members feared that they had injected billions of shillings into procuring digital technology ahead of the switchover to digital broadcasting.They argued that it would therefore be risking their investments should they be under the control of UBC whose technical capacity is still lacking in addition to being regulated by a fellow competitor (UBC).

 

Efforts to build UBC’s technical competence hit a snag after the Government stopped the acquisition of a $74m (about sh192b) loan from the Export & Import (EXIM) Bank of China over alleged procurement flaws and over-pricing. 

The loan was intended to fund the migration from analogue television to digital and partly assist UBC procure modern TV studio equipment. 

 

But Nyombi said in the face of all these shortcomings, hope was not lost as the Government was devising other means to bolster UBC in terms of technology.

 

“We must boost capacity of our national broadcaster before it takes charge of signal distribution. 

“The Government plans to provide at least $2.5m to UBC. The money will be got from the Rural Communication Development Fund and we intend to seek support from other development partners,” Nyombi said.

 

The Government is fighting to beat the 2015 global migration deadline after the East African countries failed to beat their own December, 2012 deadline. 

 

Earlier, Tembo pointed out during the first anniversary celebrations for GOtv that aligning the television broadcasting to the latest innovations in technology should be considered as a key undertaking to enable viewers realise considerable benefits from the industry, a senior government official has noted.

 

He told investors that new innovations would invigorate government into enhancing its regulatory roles for the benefit of the people and owners of media houses. 

 

“The Government is supportive of your investments especially through playing regulatory roles, my humble appeal to you is that continue embracing new innovations because they must run in front of regulations,” he said.