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From George Maponga in Mberengwa
Zimbabwe has started installing 48 digital transmitters to improve access to broadcasting services countrywide in a development that is expected to revolutionarise the availability of Internet services in remote areas in line with Zim-Asset. Secretary for Information, Media and Broadcasting Services Mr George Charamba on Wednesday said out of the 48 broadcasting digital transmitters, half of them would be installed in new sites around the country while the other half were on existing sites and in need of only slight modifications.

Speaking after a tour of broadcasting digitalisation sites in Mashava and Buchwa in Mberengwa, Mr Charamba said the 24 new broadcasting digital transformers would soon start being shipped into the country from China in batches.

He said the equipment from Huawei had already been paid and expressed optimism that most of the installation work would have been completed by October this year.

“The 24 new digital transformers will be shipped into the country in batches of six while work on the 24 existing transmitters that will undergo some fine-tuning and slight changes will be continuing,’’ he said.

“We expect to start testing the digital transmitters by October, our target to have completed most of the works that are sensitive to the weather before the onset of the rainy season. There are some activities that are going on in the studio right now and work on the head end system is almost complete,’’ he added.

Mr Charamba said the ongoing broadcasting digitalisation programme would create a new developmental model in the history of infrastructural development in Zimbabwe.

“For the first time in the history of this country we are witnessing a new development model where development is starting from rural areas going to urban areas instead of the other way round. The rural area is getting priority for the first time because the digital transmitters will open up opportunities for access to Internet on facilities such as schools in rural areas,’’ said Mr Charamba.

He said digitalisation would help Zimbabwe attain some of its Zim-Asset targets by providing affordable internet connectivity for rural institutions.

He added that the backbone of the ongoing broadcasting digitalisation programme was that it was fibre-optically connected.

“We are going to use an earth-based system where our digital transmitters will also be connected by fibre optic network and this means all the rural areas where the fibre optic link will pass through can also ride on that link and access services such as Internet. It’s a double boost for Zim-Asset,’’ added Mr Charamba.

He challenged service providers to take advantage of the broadcasting digitalisation programme by offering affordable Internet services especially to the rural consumers who were Government’s biggest concern.

During the ongoing tour, Mr Charamba together with engineers from Huawei and Transmedia would also visit digitalisation sites in other remote parts of the country such Binga.