Analogue-to-digital TV switchover by 2020 for Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka’s Minister of Mass Media and Information, Keheliya Rambukw, has told the cabinet that the country’s transition from analogue to digital terrestrial TV (DTT) broadcasting will begin by the end of this year and be completed by 2020, reports RapidTVNews. The five-year plan to achieve nationwide DTT is based on the Japanese Integrated Services Digital Broadcasting-Terrestrial (ISDB-T) standard, supported by a loan of LKR17 billion (USD130.5 million) from the Japanese government, while the Sri Lankan government has budgeted a further LKR4 billion in funding for the project. Under the plan, DTT will be introduced initially in the Western and Northern provinces by 2016. The process will free up certain frequencies (the ‘digital dividend’) for 4G mobile broadband services.