info.afrindex.com
China-Africa Trade Information Service
By Olatunji Saliu and Zhang Baoping
Abuja — Residents of Daura, a town in Nigeria's northwestern state of Katsina, gleefully trooped out mid-week to welcome Chinese guests and their local partners who had come to launch a digital terrestrial TV in their locality.
The local residents, led by members of the emirate council, treated their guests to traditional music, dance and colorful display of their culture.
The epoch-making ceremony marked the beginning of a new era in Daura -- an ancient town which is the homestead of Muhammadu Buhari, president of Nigeria.
The Chinese pay TV offers some of its channels in three main Nigerian languages -- Yoruba, Hausa and Igbo, as well as a Chinese Kungfu channel and Nollywood (Nigerian entertainment) channels, among others.
With StarTimes coming to Daura town, the first city out of Sahara Desert, many residents hoped to watch various festive celebrations that take place in the northern part of Nigeria through the pay TV channels.
Haruna Salisu, a 25-year old student, said most people who intended to watch television programs were turned off by lousy transmission signals in the past.
According to Maxwell Loko, Head of StarTimes/NTA TV Enterprise, the Chinese firm has revolutionized the pay TV sector in Nigeria, with Nigerians, even those in rural areas, no longer needing to spend huge amount of money to enjoy good TV programs.
He said StarTimes has done so much to help with the digitization process of the Nigeria Broadcasting Corporation (NBC). StarTimes transmission in Daura can go as far as 60 kilometers, even serving a town in the neighboring Niger Republic which is located only 15 kilometers away from the ancient Nigerian town.
The Chinese firm, upon the commencement of transmission in Daura, had addressed the challenge caused by constant power cut and thereby commissioned two power generation plants to enhance its operation.
In the past, the state-run NTA, saddled with similar challenge, could not transmit for more than three to four hours a day, especially due to the cost of buying diesel to power its electricity generation plants.
Mathew Tukura, local signal and technical engineer, said the transmission technology used by StarTimes is all top-of-the-line.