Zambian President authorizes establishment of taskforce on digital migration

On 30 July 2010, Minister of Information and Broadcasting Services Lieutenant General Ronnie Shikapwasha said that President Rupiah Banda had authorized the establishment of a digital migration National Taskforce to oversee the implementation of digital migration broadcasting in Zambia.

According to media reports monitored by MISA-Zambia, Shikapwasha said that the Taskforce would be responsible for the transformation of broadcasting which is supposed to be done by 2015, a date set by the International Telecommunications Union (ITU).
 
Gen Shikapwasha was speaking during a press briefing in Lusaka.
 
He said that the Taskforce would among others come up with the roadmap for digital migration. “The government recognises the importance of this matter and this is the reason why a National Taskforce is being setup. The Taskforce is a multi-stakeholder body that would develop a national roadmap, make recommendations and generally oversee the national digital migration process,” The Information Minister explained.
 
Shikapwasha said the Taskforce operations would be coordinated by a secretariat  and would be reporting to the Inter-ministerial Committee chaired by the Ministry of Information. He stated that the Taskforce would be chaired by Luwani Soko.
 
The chief government spokesperson said the Taskforce would comprise representatives from the private and public radio and television stations, Zambia Information and Communication Authority (ZICTA) and private mobile service providers.
 
Among the Taskforce’s terms of reference is to formulate appropriate consumer awareness strategies, monitor the awareness and recommend a licensing policy regime relating to network. //End//

Reagan Malumo
Programme Specialist: Media Freedom Monitoring and Research
Media Institute of Southern Africa (MISA) Regional Secretariat
21 Johann Albrecht St
Private Bag 13386
Windhoek
Namibia
Phone: +264 61 232 975
Fax: +264 61 248 016
Mobile: +264 81 311 2626

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