By Solomon Tembang Mforgham

The government of Cameroon has banned the importation and use of analogue broadcast equipment.

The decision that outlaws the importation of analogue broadcast equipment is contained in decree N°2012/3917/PM dated 20 November signed by the country’s Prime Minister, Head of Government, Philemon Yang. The Prime Ministerial decree lays down conditions for digital broadcasting and transmission in Cameroon that takes effect from June 2015. It also sets the agenda for migration from analogue to digital broadcasting.

According to the decree, the sale of analogue radio and television equipment such as analogue radio and television receivers will be prohibited throughout Cameroon as from July 2013.

Public and private audiovisual media using the banned analogue broadcast equipment will have to comply with the law within twelve months or be subjected to a fine.

Also, the digital video broadcasting terrestrial (DVB-T2) will be standardised in Cameroon. Digital compression modes in force will now be: H.264 and Motion Picture Expert Group (MPEG-4 AVC) for video and High Efficiency Advanced Audio Coding (HE- AAC) for audio.

Thanks to the multi-frequency network, the government intends to cover at least 85 percent of the national territory.

If the process goes on as planned by 17 June 2015 there will be no analogue signal in Cameroon.

Meanwhile, the decree came on the heels of a National Communication Forum in the capital Yaounde running from 5 to 7 December 2012. The forum brought together media and communication practitioners from within and out of the country to seek solutions to some of the problems that have been plaguing the sector.