Minister of Information Kampamba Mulenga says Zambia will complete digital migration in the next one year.

According to a statement issued by Zambia’s First Secretary for Press and Public Relations to South Africa Naomi Nyawali today, Mulenga was speaking on the side lines of a Southern African Development Community (SADC) conference for Ministers responsible for Communication and ICT being held in Durban, South Africa.

Mulenga boasted that Zambia was the first country in Africa to acquire over 500,000 decoders in readiness for the digital migration switch.

“Hon Mulenga said Zambia achieved a breaking record in Africa by being the first country to successfully acquire over five hundred thousand decoders in readiness for the digital migration switch. Ms Mulenga says this achievement has broken the record as no other African country has managed to acquire and record the figures that Zambia has achieved. She said this achievement has shown how ready and eager the people of Zambia are to migrate to digital television,” Nyawali stated.

“She expressed happiness that Zambia’s progress towards digital migration was within schedule as the first phase had been completed with the initial switch expected to be implemented on the 1st October this year covering the line of rail. Ms Mulenga added that government was impressed with the progress done so far as the country was on course to fully migrate to digital television within the next one year.”

Mulenga also said the construction of provincial studios would enhance the quality of Zambian productions so that they could compete internationally.

“She noted that the construction of Provincial Studios was also expected to commence next month following the finalisation of loan agreement with the government of China facilitated by Ministry of Finance. Ms Mulenga said the establishment of state-of-the-art studios will motivate and promote professionalism among players in the media industry as the studios would meet international standards to enable Zambian productions to professionally compete internationally,” read the statement.