Algeria joins digital family

Mohamed Benfodil, president of the Algerian Independent ICT Authority (ARPT), has given details of the country’s move to digital terrestrial broadcasting. Benfodil told a two-day ITU seminar in Algiers that Algeria would move to digital TV by 2009 in line with ITU proposals to migrate all broadcasting services to the digital format by 2014. He said the move would help Algeria develop local production and lead to the inclusion of more locally originated content in its broadcasts.

Earlier this month Télédiffusion d’Algérie (TDA) commenced distribution of a package of TV and radio stations on the Eutelsat Atlantic Bird 3 satellite (5 degrees West).

Dr Miloud Ameziane, director of the ITU Cairo bureau, told the conference that although 12 out of 22 Arab nations had begun digital transmissions it was too early to give an assessment of their progress. However, Dr Ameziane said the move to digital transmission was inevitable as analogue broadcasting was becoming obsolete.