Cameroon bans analogue broadcast equipment imports
Cameron has placed a ban on the importation of analogue broadcast equipment; a move designed to move the country’s media to migrate to using only digital equipment for broadcasting.
All analogue signals would have been gotten rid of if the plan goes underway as authorities say by 17 June 2015.
A decision from Prime Minister Philemeon Yang, signed in mid-November but made public only recently, instituted the ban and laid down conditions for digital broadcasting and transmission in Cameroon, taking effect from June 2015.
As from July next year, the sale of analogue equipment such as analogue radio and television receivers will be outlawed all over Cameroon.
Public and private audiovisual media using the banned analogue broadcast equipment will have to meet the terms of the law within one year or pay punitive penalties.
The digital video broadcasting terrestrial (DVB-T2) will equally be made uniform in Cameroon and digital compression modes in use will now be: H.264 and Motion Picture Expert Group (MPEG-4 AVC) for video and High Efficiency Advanced Audio Coding (HE- AAC) for audio.
Government says the multi-frequency network will ensure signals reach at least 85 percent of the national territory.