By KT Reporter
Uganda Communications Commission, the broadcasting industry regulator, says it is helping Uganda Broadcasting Corporation technicians work to restore free-to-air television services.
For about a month and a half, Ugandans have lacked access to free-to-air TV services, following what Uganda Broadcasting Corporation (UBC), owner of the signal provider Signet, described as a technical glitch.
Notably, several parts of the country, especially peri-urban and rural areas, have been without signal for over a year, leading some to switch to affordable pay-TV decoders.
The fact is that several parts of the country, especially peri-urban and rural, have been without signal for more than a year, which has forced some to reluctantly buy cheap pay-TV decoders.
Ibrahim Bbossa, the Head of Public and International Relations, said the problem stemmed from a significant fault in the broadcast system that necessitated extensive diagnosis and repair efforts.
He said UCC continues to “diligently” oversee and assist in the restoration efforts to ensure that broadcasting returns to normal “as quickly as possible.
”While significant progress has been achieved, the fault’s complexity has caused delays. Ensuring a stable and reliable signal for all affected platforms continues to be the main focus,” says Bbossa.
It is seven days since UBC promised full restoration “soon”.
”While substantial progress has been made, the process has taken longer than initially anticipated due to the complexity of the fault. We assure our valued viewers and partners that full restoration remains our top priority, and every necessary measure is being taken to ensure a stable and reliable signal across all affected platforms,” said the UBC statement.
Many Ugandans who rely on the free-to-air recorders to receive television signals continue to raise concerns. Some of them had experienced problems before the latest development.
Residents of a village in the Mpigi district last year accused telecom company Airtel Uganda of interfering with their signal supply when a telecommunications mast was erected in their area. It was discovered that the problem was not in Mbazzi parish but in other parts of the country.
”I first lost half of the channels, and all searching never yielded anything. When I asked others in my neighbourhood, some said they had long lost all channels,” said Nana Akandinda, resident of Nsangi in Wakiso District.
She has since lost all channels, with the last to go being UBC and CTGN. UBC acknowledged that there were technical faults and that was was working to restore the signal, but even after announcing that the network had been restored, save for only four channels, many viewers continued complaining of no signal.
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