Sixty households in Samburu which were locked out after the analogue to digital TV migration will soon receive free digital set-top boxes.
The initiative dubbed digital TV project for Kenya is being implemented by the Ministry of Information, Communication and Technology on behalf of the government of Kenya and Startimes Software Technologies on behalf of the People’s Republic of China.
Eric Kiilu, the projects’ team leader in the Central region said that the project targets to connect 800 households countrywide to increase access to information to all Kenyans.
He said that there is need to increase the digital TV coverage in Kenya to 100 per cent since a good majority in remote areas have no access to digital signals.
Kiilu said that the ICT ministry is conducting a house to house questionnaire survey in Archers post, Wamba and Lodungokwe villages in Samburu East to enable fair and equitable distribution of the set-top boxes.
“The minimum requirement for a household to be considered is that it should be connected to a power source, have a functioning TV set and should not own any set-top box. After successful selection engineers will be sent to connect the set-top boxes in a months’ time,” he said.
The team leader added that two public institutions from each village will also benefit from the project to ensure that community members who did not meet the initial minimum requirements can have access to a digital TV.
“Since the objective of the project is to reach many people as possible, two public institutions in each village that serve a high number of people will receive digital set boxes and projectors for learning purposes,” Kiilu added.
The digital TV project for Kenya which will be completed in August will be implemented in two phases where phase one will target 300 villages and phase two will complete the remaining 500 villages.