Malawi feels digital migration pressure

Concerns exist that a company handling Malawi’s digital migration process is not acting fast enough.

Malawi’s government has stressed urgency in beating a June 2015 digital migration deadline set by the International Telecommunications Union (ITU).

And Government has established a company called the ‘Malawi Digital Broadcasting Network’ to be responsible for the switchover.

But Malawi’s minister of information, Kondwani Nankhumwa, has told Blantyre Newspapers that while the company has already named a board of directors, the company is still not operational.
He also says the board has not yet met with him.

The Malawian government also claims it has put in place all the necessary technical requirements for the switchover but that the uptake of set top boxes (STBs) by Malawians has not been sufficient.

“I will make sure that the company starts work so that it should take over all the activities to do with digital migration so that Malawi meets the deadline on the completion of the process,” Nankhumwa said.