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The National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) announced that the federal government is working to release 30 billion nairas to strengthen the digital switching process (DSO) in the country.
NBC chief executive Ishaq Kawu told reporters in Lagos Friday that the funds would be released in two lots of N15 billion each.
Kawu said the money would be paid back from the resources that would be realized from the list of frequencies to be auctioned.
He added that the Commission had completed digital mapping of the country to ensure efficient deployment of DSOs.
According to him, NBC now has a plan for all points and places where it will have digital transmission facilities, the main population centers of the whole country.
"It's very important because if you look at the demographics of Nigeria, the majority of Nigerians for the first time in history are now living in urban areas.
"So we decided to offer digital broadcasting to all these major population centers.
"In the past, we started with the regional deployment, so we chose one state per geopolitical zone, but with a small mapping process, we now have all the major population centers.
So, over the next 15 to 25 months, we will have the opportunity to deploy our activities in these major centers.
"More importantly, we are working on the possibility of putting in place the initial plan that we initially have and then launching it in Lagos, Kano and Port Harcourt.
"It is therefore a major development," he added.
Kuwa said NBC has been in talks with a South Korean company about set-top boxes (STBs) for three months.
He said the company has agreed to install facilities to produce one million set-top boxes in Nigeria, "so we can have boxes that will deploy to the different sites."
According to him, the boxes will be produced by the company that NBC is authorized to produce in Nigeria. They will give facilities and the payment will be made after the sale of boxes.
"In the past, original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) in China insisted on getting paid before production.
"But now, Koreans say, we will give you the ease.
"You produce in Nigeria, you can sell and give us money. And this is very important for all companies because the banking system does not give them a lot of money.
"This therefore represents a major development for us, in terms of deployment in Lagos, Kano as well as in Port Harcourt, which are the three main centers of population and economy of Nigeria."
The Director General said that there had been a cross-border signal problem in West Africa and that, as a result, the NBC was deploying so as not to affect other countries.
He said Nigeria was well ahead of neighboring countries in deploying DSOs.
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