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The Chinese government will this morning hand over the Sh800 million Digital TV project to the Kenyan Government, aimed at bridging the digital divide between Kenya’s urban and rural set-ups.

Covering 800 villages across the country’s 47 counties, the project has been implemented through the Ministry of Information Communication and Technology (ICT) with digital television company, StarTimes Media.

It has seen 16,000 households and 2,400 public institutions get access to digital television services, while 1,600 technical personnel were trained in the installation and maintenance of the digital television project.

Since migration from analogue to digital broadcast in 2015, a significant number of the Kenyans are still underserved by the digital signal.

By 2017, 83.6 per cent of these had been covered by digital broadcast, according to ICT Cabinet secretary Joe Mucheru.

At the launch in April 2018, Mucheru said the project was being implemented to provide solar power projector TV Systems, digital TV sets, satellite dishes and accessories, satellite TV terminals to public facilities and set top boxes (STBs) to public facilities and villages.

“This project will provide two sets of solar power projector TV systems and one set 32-inch digital TV set, satellite dishes and accessories to three public facilities, that is, schools, youth centres in each village; and 20 sets of satellite TV terminals including STBs, satellite dishes and accessories to 20 households who have functional TV Sets,” said Mucheru. 

The project will lead to an increase in access to Information through TV broadcast, increased knowledge transfer and wealth creation, eventually facilitating achievement of the government’s Big Four agenda.