The stage is set for the rollout of the Digitial Switchover in Kwara State following the inspection visit to the facilities of the Integrated Television Services (ITS), a signal distributor, in Ilorin yesterday by the minister of information and culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed.
The minister led a team that included the director-general of the National Broadcasting Commission (NBC), Malam Ishaq Modibbo Kawu, and the chairman of Digiteam Nigeria, Mr Edward Amana, to the ITS facilities to gauge the readiness for the rollout.
Following the inspection, Amana said: “We are ready to take off in Ilorin. We have seen the installations and what was lacking before has been rectified. There is some level of redundancy now built into the transmission system.”
The chairman of Digiteam Mr. Amana said at the moment there are 27 channels in the bouquet and that anyone with a Set-Top Box can access the channels within the coverage area of the transmitter in Ilorin.
He said the Digiteam was working with the signal distributor to construct transmission stations, similar to the one in Ilorin, in Patigi and Kaiama in order to have a total signal coverage of the whole of Kwara State.
‘’When Patigi and Kaiama are up, then we can confidently say the whole of Kwara State will be covered and there will be spill-over to the neighbouring state of Niger,” the Digiteam chairman said
In his remarks, the minister said the visit was to ascertain the level
of preparedness for the launch of the didital switchover in Kwara State and the quality of facilities on the ground.
Earlier, the general manager of ITS, Mr. Rotimi Salami, had conducted the minister and his delegation round the transmission station and the control room.
The digital switchover was launched in Jos, Plateau State, in April 2016 and was also rolled out in the Federal Capital Territory in December 2016.
Kwara is one of the six states earmarked for the next phase of the rollout. Others are Osun, Delta, Kaduna, Gombe and Enugu states.