Reflection is ongoing in Yaounde to harmonise its standpoint and manage frequencies in the borders.
Telecomunication experts in the Central African Sub-region are currently working on common proposals to present during the world radiocommunication conference to hold in Geneva, Switzerland in November 2015.
The experts hold that each country has its stakes and challenges and given the irreversible migration from analogue to digital television by 2015, it is logical for the sub-region to go to Geneva as one person with one voice. This is more so because the conference is expected to revise the radio regulations as well as the international treaty governing the use of radio-frequency spectrum among others.
The Yaounde workshop that began yesterday September 23 is to gather proposals coming from the sub-region to be shared with other member States when they meet. According to Jean Jacques Massima, representative of the International Telecommunication Union for Central Africa and Madagascar, attribution of frequencies and their notification to some services like satellite, mobile and aeronautics constitute the base of their reflection. “Mobile is more and more demanding in terms of frequencies and that is why we are moving from analogue to digital to free the frequency for use by other services,” he said.
Meanwhile, the Technical Coordinator at the African Telecommunications Union, Kezias Mwale said more than 30 per cent of the frequencies are now designated for mobile broadband. “Now we need a plan for the sustainable management of the frequencies. It is for the region to focus and see which way to go. The conference is expected to confirm the frequencies that will be redeemed from analogue television to mobile broadband. It is very important for Africa because these frequencies are more suited for rural mobile broadband.”
Sitting in for the Minister of Posts and Telecomunications, the Inspector General in Charge of Technical Matters, Pierre Kaptue, said government is unwavering in aligning with modernity in the telecommunications world. The ongoing workshop is also strategizing on the management of frequencies in border countries within the sub-region.
