Sri Lanka expedites long-delayed ‘TV Digitalisation Project’

The Sri Lankan government is expediting the long- delayed ‘ Digitalisation of Television Broadcasting’ project with Japanese funding although the project has not made sufficient progress last year.

Japan and Sri Lanka discussed ways and means of accelerating the project during Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe's recent tour of Japan and talks with Chief Cabinet Secretary of Japan Yoshihide Suga.

Earlier the Cabinet Committee on Economic Management (CCEM) decided in March 2016 to revive this project which was introduced in 2014 by the previous Rajapaksa regime. Advisor to the Ministry of National Policy and Economic Affairs R. Paskaralingam has brought to the notice of the committee that Japan has agreed to provide a sum of Rs. 2.5 billion for the project implementation as a loan on extremely favourable terms and conditions for Sri Lanka.

At a recent CCEM meeting, it was revealed that the cabinet approval has been given to proceed with the project and the loan agreement has also been signed. Officials informed the CCEM that a decoder is required to be fixed to every single TV set and the funds required for this purpose will be provided by the Japanese government.

Instructions were issued by the CCEM to submit a report on additional requirement of funds for this purpose.

A steering committee has been appointed to expedite the implementation of the project suggesting a mechanism towards this end. The acting Director General of Te l e c o m m u n i c a t i o n Regulatory Commission has agreed to conduct a meeting with the steering committee and submit a report soon, the CCEM has noted.

The TV digitalisation deal between Sri Lanka and Japan came under wide criticism and accusation of corruption and commission-taking when the previous government entered into a loan agreement with the Japan Inter national Cooperation Agency (JICA) in September 2014.

Official sources said the present government suspended the project as the Japanese system is not widely used in countries worldwide and Sri Lanka will have to import Japanese television sets as it is very unlikely that the TV sets available in the Lankan market are compatible with the Japanese system.

Sri Lanka’s television industry has been preparing to digitalise itself for more than half a decade. But policy uncertainties have confused broadcasters and caused many delays. A recommendation was made that Sri Lanka adopt the European originated DVB- T2 ( Digital Video Broadcasting – Second Generation) as the standard for digital terrestrial television broadcasting, or DTTB.

The original timeline was for the digital transition to begin in 2011 and culminate in 2017 with the complete analogue switch off. During that interim period, no new licences were to be issued for analogue TV broadcasting.

The sub- committee appointed by the previous regime has recommended import tax concessions to help broadcasters acquire new equipment and some subsidy to help households buy new TV receivers.