Nigeria’s economy is looking to gain a windfall income of around $2 billion (about 380 billion Naira) from the sale of its analogue frequencies, once TV transmissions are switched to digital TV.

Nigeria has set January 1st 2015 as its ‘all-digital’ day.  Fatora Consulting has presented a paper to Nigeria’s government authored by Edward Amana, a former head of the country’s television authority. He told local press that “The digital dividend – the spectrum gain after the transition – can be used for mobile broadband. This will enable broadband penetration into the rural areas, with its attendant benefits. “If properly managed, the sale of this leftover spectrum by auction should yield over $2 billion.”

Moreover, he added, the digital dividend would generate thousands of jobs for the youths and lead to “more channels of diverse programming, giving the viewer more choice, possibility of multi-lingual delivery of programmes and better quality pictures and sound.”

Nigeria’s conversion to digital is well advanced, and already in place in about 32 of the country’s federal states. The National Television Authority expects to be fully digital by June next year.

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