The Executive Secretary of Broadcasting Organisation of Nigeria (BON), Yemisi Bamgbose, has cautioned the Federal Government not to succumb to the idea of selling the Ultra Higher Frequency (UHF) band allocated to broadcasting to the telecom sector so as not to strangulate future expansion of television broadcasting in the country.
In a statement made available to The Guardian, he also called on the Federal Government to protect future of television broadcasts in the country by protecting the primary spectrum allocated to it by the International Telecommunications Union.
To Bamgbose, the outcome of findings from members of the European Broadcasting Union that participated in the just concluded International Broadcasting Conference held in Amsterdam, Netherlands revealed that vast majority of the European countries adopted and are using Digital Terrestrial Television (DTT) as their medium of digital migration and transmission, which enhance future development in television broadcasting through the emergence of the 5GB.
He noted, “5GB, officially known as the 5G Terrestrial Broadcast, is the system for the distribution of the television and other broadcast media content via terrestrial radio broadcast networks based on downlink only.”
He said the advancement to 5GB can only happen through the use of the UHF band, which the Federal Government is proposing to sell to the telecom operators.
He added the year 2025 International Broadcasting Conference revealed that many European and Asian countries are embracing the 5GB advancement, which enables wide area coverage and flexible network deployments.
Bamgbose further recalled the 2023 World Radio Conference agreed that the UHF band should be exclusively reserved for the use of television broadcasting and that each country should not transfer the broadcast frequency to the telecom sector because of the immediate financial inducement.
He insisted selling the UHF spectrum to the telecommunications sector would have negative impacts on television broadcasting and advancement in the near future.
BON also urged the National Broadcasting Commission NBC to be at the forefront of educating federal government on the need to adhere to the decisions reached at the World Radio Conference.
