The Namibian Broadcasting Corporation (NBC) will be migrating from its current Digital Terrestrial Television (DTT) to Direct to Home (DTH) satellite broadcasting following a tripartite agreement with the Central Procurement Board of Namibia and IntelSat Ventures.
This will improve NBC broadcasts, television and radio signals, and reception across the country.
The current terrestrial C-band broadcast has been widely used across Africa for decades and is known for its broad coverage and strong signal, especially in rural areas.
However, it is becoming outdated due to increasing signal interference from mobile networks, bulky equipment requirements, and limited support for high-definition broadcasting.
"We will still be on a tower base; the only thing that will change is the signal, which will get better from analogue to digital. However, the reach from us to reach Namibians was not there, so our coverage remained the same. By the time we had finished our DDT implementation plan, and given the challenge and vastness of this country, we could only cover 74.5% of Namibia as a whole for television and 78% for radio," said NBC DG Stanley Similo.
Meanwhile, the change to the Ku-band system operates on higher frequencies and enables direct-to-home satellite TV with improved quality and reliability.
Upgrading to Ku-band will allow NBC to integrate more efficiently with modern satellite networks, deliver high-definition content, and reach most remote communities in Namibia using smaller, more practical satellite dishes.
"We want to see satellite being introduced, which is DTH. What DTH does is it gives immediate 100% coverage towards the whole country, and this is a significant milestone that Namibia is witnessing today."
Intelsat Ventures will provide the direct-to-home transmission services to NBC on a seven-year contract to the tune of N$121 million.
Hans Geldenhuys, the Director of Intelsat Ventures, represented the company at the signing ceremony.
"As far back as four years ago, we started negotiating and putting this idea together, and really the benefit, or what we all have been pursuing, is really to give access to effective television to Namibian people."
The CEO of the CPBN, Idi Itope, thanked the two institutions for their commitment to service delivery.
"I would like to thank the director general of NBC and the team for the commitment to the success of NBC in driving the transformation that will benefit the citizens of this country, that will make people happy, and that will provide more coverage to the nation. For that, we are grateful for the role NBC is playing and grateful for being approached by NBC to conduct this procurement."