Accra, Mar. 31, GNA - Mrs Sabah Zita Okaikoi, Minister of Information on Tuesday held discussion with the Deputy Head of Mission at the German Embassy on the digital migration of broadcasting equipment in Ghana from analogue to digital.

The digital migration programme is a global call for all countries to transfer existing television and radio transmission device from analogue to digital device by 2015 since digital broadcasting is a more efficient way of transmitting sound and data by turning them into computerized data.

Ghana is one of the first countries that has accepted the challenge to migrate all existing analogue broadcasting equipment, the project has started with the Ghana Broadcasting Corporation.

Mrs Okaikoi said the first phase of the digital migration programme is expected to be completed in June in Accra and Kumasi. Mr Hans Christian Winkler, Deputy Head of Mission, said he was happy that a German Organization was helping Ghana with the processes involved in the digital migration and expressed the hope that with time all media organizations would be involved. He advised that the technicians handling the project would maintain the possibility for people to receive programmes recorded with analogue equipment as well as digital ones.

He said the embassy would be at the service of the Ghana Broadcasting Corporation and pointed out that the embassy had a long standing partnership with the Ghanaian media. Mr Winkler announced that Deutsche Welle, the German broadcasting medium would be partnering media houses especially in the regions to air programmes of interest to the Ghanaian public and noted that a German organization would also sponsor at least one Ghanaian journalist to cover the German elections in September this year. 31 March 09