We won't return to analogue TV, says UCC

The UCC acting director of broadcasting, Fred Otunnu, told Saturday Monitor that digital migration was an international obligation, which Uganda committed itself to and it is a decision that has little to do with UCC.

"We acknowledge receipt of copy of the court order and we have fully internalised it. We have instructed our legal officers here to draft a response and lodge appeal against the decision but in the meantime, the status quo remains. We are not going back to analogue," Otunnu said by telephone.

Image via 123RF

On June 17, Uganda officially moved from analogue to digital broadcasting in accordance with guidelines of the International Telecommunications Union (ITU).

ITU is the United Nations agency that allocates radio spectrum and satellite orbits. The 198 member nations, including Uganda, of the union meeting on June 16, 2006 for the Regional Radiocommunication Conference in Geneva, Switzerland, set themselves this target to transit from analogue to digital technology to improve on TV quality and free space on the spectrum for other uses.

The June switch-over was, however, met with jittery from sections of the public, some of whom sued UCC for the migration to digital broadcasting.

Last Thursday, Mengo Grade One Magistrate Moses Ntende issued an interim order directing UCC to immediately switch from digital signal transmission back to the old TV analogue signal transmission.

Phase One of the switch-over was effected within a radius of 65km from the main transmission centre in Kololo for the Kampala Metropolitan area, which is operated by Signet, an affiliate of Uganda Broadcasting Corporation.