Published: 03 July 2018

Zimbabwe failed to meet the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) deadline to migrate from analogue broadcasting to digital since June 2015.

The digitalization project which is under the jurisdiction of the Broadcasting Association of Zimbabwe (BAZ) and being rolled out by Transmedia brought so much excitement across the country but the flame has blown out due to red tape in the project implementation process.

Transmedia, a state-owned company responsible for distributing radio and television signal services for broadcasters has faltered three times after receiving extended deadlines since November 2015.

The International Telecommunications Union later extended Zimbabwe's deadlines to catch up with the rest of the region but in all the instances, the Broadcasting Authority of Zimbabwe has failed to complete the digitalization project.

This has now left Zimbabwe being the only country within the SADC region to continue broadcasting using analogue airwaves while its counterparts such as South Africa, Botswana and Zambia have all managed to meet the deadlines.

With the deadline having lapsed, Zimbabwe risk having its state broadcaster ZBC taken off the international airwaves by end of 2018 if the responsible authorities do not complete the digital migration project, according to ITU.
- nextvafrica