Radio, television reception set to improve in Plumtee — transmedia
RADIO and television reception in Plumtree and surrounding areas will soon improve after Transmedia promised to set up another transmitter in Madlambuzi in Bulilima District, Matabeleland South province.
People in Plumtree, especially those living far from the town do not have access to local radio and television because the single transmitter in the border town only covers a range of between 40 to 60 kilometres. Most people in the area especially those living in Mphoengs and Maitengwe border areas rely on radio and television from neighbouring Botswana.
Transmedia chief executive officer Mrs Florence Sigudu-Matambo confirmed the new development in an interview yesterday during the tour of a condemned Plumtree transmitter site by the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Information, Media and Broadcasting Services, Mr George Charamba, who was last week in Matabeleland North to check on the progress of the digitalisation project.
“We are here to asses this Plumtree transmitter site as it was condemned to host the digital equipment because of structural defects to transmitters’ host. The steel which was used here was of poor quality and is caving in due to the load. So we are supposed to destroy it and start its reconstruction,” said Mrs ChiguduMatambo.
She, however said the transmitter host will no longer be destroyed but the company will construct another one in Madlambuzi.
“Initially we were supposed to destroy this one and then build another one here. However, that means we have to put Plumtree off air as we do that job. We then said instead of doing that we should continue with this one running as we build another one in Madlambuzi. After completing the Madlambuzi one, we can then switch over and this Plumtree one be used as a gap filling transmitter,” she said.
Mrs Chigudu-Matambo also revealed that her company was working on having Plumtree on a full coverage up to the border areas.
“We are aware that our borders are more than 100 kilometres from the Plumtree transmitter site and work is in progress to have full coverage. Today our engineers worked on the sound quality of the transmission which this area was receiving and it has improved tremendously, but very soon the whole of this area will have a full coverage,” said Mrs Chigudu-Matambo.
The Government embarked on a $200 million digitalisation programme in 2016 to migrate from analogue to digital transmission.
Last week Mr Charamba announced that Government has released $6 million to the Broadcasting Authority of Zimbabwe to complete the digitalisation project amid reports that most transmission sites countrywide are ready for migration from analogue to digital. This follows disbursement of another $6 million at the beginning of this year as part of the $22 million allocated to the project in the 2018 national budget.