Cape Verde DTT network covers 95% of population
November 16, 2020
Cape Verde’s DTT network already covers 95 per cent of the population ahead of the analogue switch-off (ASO) set for January 2021.
Speaking during a Parliamentary hearing, the country’s Ministry of Culture, Abraão Vicente, said that the DTT network is already present in all 22 municipalities of the archipelago.
He admitted “some difficulties” in implementing the network in Santo Antão, due to the configuration of the terrain, as well as frequency interference problems that are being worked out by DTT network operator Cabo Verde Broadcast and CV Telecom.
Replying to questions by MPs on the lack of DTT reception equipment in the country, Vicente announced that 40,000 digital boxes would be available on the market from January 2020.
Vicente also announced plans for the expansion of the DTT offer to up to 20 TV channels from next year.
The current FTA offer includes local channels TCV, Tiver and TV Educativa; Portuguese channels RTP3 and RTP Africa; Brazil’s Record TV; and France’s TV5 Monde and France24.
Cape Verde is one of the five ECOWAS countries that are the most advanced in terms of implementation of DTT.
The ASO started in August on the island of Santiago and would be completed in January 2021, when analogue transmitters on Santo Antão, Cape Verde’s most mountainous island, will be switched off.
The Government of Cape Verde recently announced that the import duty rate for DTT-compatible TV sets will be reduced by 50 per cent in 2021. At the same time, imports of analogue TV sets would be subject to an extra 10 per cent tax.