Signals good for big changeover

Chinese tv company set to overcome analog interference in african viewing

When Kenya embarked on adopting a fully digitalized broadcasting network by the end of 2015, Okalebo Stephen, a 42-year-old fruit seller in Nairobi, was happy about having a greater choice of entertainment channels - but worried about how much it would cost.

"We would have better access to news and entertainment, but to get that we would have to spend thousands of Kenyan shillings on a set-top box and in monthly fees for the service," he says. "This will take a large portion of my total salary, so we simply couldn't sacrifice everything just to watch TV."

But now they have a better and cheaper choice with the recent entry of StarTimes digital channel to the market.

"Our goal is to provide local citizens with an affordable digital TV service, with better quality, by using our manufacturing and technology advantages," says Li Weizhong, president of StarTimes Media (Kenya) Ltd. "We have launched many packages, the cheapest one at 400 Kenya shillings ($4.5) for 40 channels every month."

Star Times Media (Kenya) has become a leading digital TV service provider in the country. Its parent Star Times Group is the strongest and biggest DTV system integrator, technology provider and network operator in China, founded in 1988 and based in Beijing.

Based on its integrative technical strength in analog, IP network and DTV technologies, StarTimes is a certified hi-tech enterprise eligible to contract foreign projects in the radio and TV industry from China.

The company has eight satellite stations to ensure its global service and now operates in more than 10 African countries including Burundi, Congo, Nigeria, Rwanda, South Africa, Sudan, Tanzania and Uganda. It has two broadcasting centers, in Dar es Salaam and Abuja.

The company started its business in Kenya in 2008 and has worked on several projects including building the DTV trial system for Kenya Broadcasting Corporation.

In 2011, Pan Africa Network Group, StarTimes' sister company, gained its license through an open bid with local companies to construct the DTV infrastructure for Kenya, and by the end of last year had invested $32 million in the country. It has become a crucial part of the country's changeover process from analog to digital broadcasting.

As the deadline of 2015 looms, the transition to digital remains top of the government's agenda.

Francis Wangusi, director-general of the Communication Commission of Kenya, says the capital, Nairobi, will switch off all analog broadcasting and move to digital TV in December.

Before that, people will have to buy digital set-top boxes or decoders that comply with the national standard.

Wangusi says the migration to a digital age would allow the public to enjoy the benefits of emerging technological development and not be left in the dark when the analog signal is switched off.

However, the Consumers Federation of Kenya was strongly against the switch-off, saying 4 million viewers in Nairobi were still using analog and the cost of a set-top box and setting up a service was too expensive.

In response, StarTimes has decided to cooperate with the federation to temporarily provide a free decoder service to local people to help them change over.

Although it has become a big stakeholder in this field in Kenya, entering the market and establishing such a company in Africa was not easy as it involved many sensitive issues and conflicts with local interest groups, says Li, StarTimes (Kenya) president.

The group spotted the opportunity as early as 2008 when the registration of the company started, but the company didn't gain a license until late 2011 and only officially opened last year.

"When we finally acquired the signal transmission license in Kenya in 2012, there were waves of attacks from the country's mainstream media saying it was dangerous for a Chinese company to control the digital signal in Kenya," he says. "Even though we won the open bid, some senators and other local media called for a reassessment and termination of our license."

Li says there was nothing StarTimes could do but explain to the government that it would never impose any ideology on the local market, and would focus on local investment and creating more jobs to develop the local economy.

"We almost used up all our efforts in that crisis," he says, adding that the company's subsequent performance had convinced those who doubted it.

The biggest and constant challenge it has to face is a lack of funding. As a private company, it has to raise all its money itself.

The group's president, Pang Xinxing, says StarTimes has slowed down its operations in Africa due to a lack of funds, and in some countries it is unable to start building a platform for operations, even though it has been granted a license.

Yet his plan in Africa is still to cover more than 70 percent of the viewing population with the service in the next three to five years in Kenya. That would mean attracting more than 10 million digital TV users and 16 million mobile multi-media users to become the leading media group in the region.

StarTimes' performance in Africa has at least attracted investment from the China-African Development Fund to help it expand business across the continent.

"We see the company as a very brave and successful private company from China," says Liu Jie, a CADF representative in Africa. "Its proposal to establish a digital platform and network for African countries, led by digital TV, is a promising strategy for the development of Africa and also the company itself. So we decided to invest in it."

He also says developing the digital platform in Africa is a good way to improve the local residents' news and entertainment service, and will improve understanding between peoples.

lilianxing@chinadaily.com.cn

(China Daily Africa Weekly 08/16/2013 page22)