The Director General of the National Broadcasting Commission (NBC), Mr. Charles Ebuebu, has announced that Nigerian consumers will now have access to up to one hundred channels through the Digital Switch Over (DSO) policy. This initiative aims to expand digital content distribution and improve public access to quality broadcasting.
Current and Future Channel Availability
Speaking in Abuja, Ebuebu explained that viewers with a satellite receiver connected to the Nigerian Communications Satellite Ltd (NigComSat) can currently receive 43 channels. He added, “On or before the date of launch, we want to scale it to one hundred. We have launched in eight states, which is a far cry from the projections put in place.”
Overcoming Challenges
Ebuebu acknowledged past difficulties, stating, “We had sporadic funding and a national structure was not put in place. So, we went to the drawing board and considering that technology has evolved, we decided to go satellite. We utilised the NigComSat to reach Nigerians all at once.”
Public-Private Partnership
The DSO ecosystem is a collaboration between the public and private sectors. The NBC serves as the regulator, while NigComSat provides the satellite backbone. In the private sector, companies such as Integrated Television Services (ITS) and Pinnacle Communications have been licensed as signal carriers.
Historical Context and Commitments
Nigeria signed the Geneva GE06 Agreement in 2006, committing to transition from analogue to digital terrestrial broadcasting. This global obligation, mandated by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), aims to improve signal quality and enable more efficient spectrum use. After an initial national deadline of June 2012, Nigeria aligned with the ITU's global deadline of June 2015 but missed it due to persistent implementation challenges.
Economic Benefits
The DSO is expected to drive economic growth across multiple sectors. The government projects it will create up to two million jobs, spanning the manufacturing of set-top boxes and TVs, television and film production, online advertising, and data analytics. Digital broadcasting enables real-time audience measurement, allowing broadcasters and advertisers to track viewer behaviour. This data-driven approach is projected to increase advertising revenue by up to 300 per cent.
One of the most significant economic benefits is the “digital dividend”—the spectrum currently occupied by analogue TV. Once vacated, the 700/800 MHz spectrum can be auctioned for telecommunications services, particularly for high-speed 4G and 5G broadband deployment. The government estimates this spectrum sale could generate $1 billion in revenue.
Financial Costs and Delays
The nearly two-decade-long delay has been costly. The initial migration cost was estimated at around N32 billion, excluding subsidies on set-top boxes. To date, the government has spent over N60 billion, with results remaining largely in the pilot phase. This does not include millions of dollars invested by broadcast signal distributors and local set-top box factories. President Bola Tinubu approved an additional N10 billion grant in August 2024 to lease transponders and establish the satellite backbone for the new DSO push.
Future Timeline
Both the Minister of Information, Mohammed Idris, and Ebuebu are confident of success given extensive preparations. Following the digital switch-over launch on June 17, 2026, the transition is expected to be completed within 18 months, with a final switch-off of analogue signals by December 2028.
