•NBC Director General, Mr. Charles Ebuebu
The National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) and the Nigerian Communications Satellite Limited (NIGCOMSAT) said that the long delayed nationwide new digital broadcasting framework – Digital Switch-Over (DSO) will be rolled out June 17, 2026, while the final analogue switch-off has been fixed for December 31, 2028.
The regulators said that the DSO will unlock about N605.2 billion in advertising revenue and generate more than $1 billion from digital spectrum auctions .
Building up the enthusiasm during a joint media briefing in Abuja, yesterday, the Director-General of NBC, Charles Ebuebu, emphasised that DSO will unlock the N605.2 billion national advertising market through verifiable audience measurement, enabling broadcasters and content creators to access new revenue streams.
Ebuebu, while defending the adoption of a hybrid Direct-to-Home (DTH), Digital Terrestrial Television (DTT) and Internet Protocol (IP)-based broadcasting architecture, said that Nigeria could no longer rely solely on terrestrial television to achieve nationwide digital access.
He maintained that the revised strategy aligns with the 2012 white paper on DSO, which recognised both terrestrial and satellite broadcasting standards as part of a converged national broadcasting framework.
The Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer of Nigerian Communications Satellite (NIGCOMSAT) Limited, Jane Egerton-Idehen, added that the release of the 700MHz and 800MHz digital dividend spectrum is projected to generate over $1 billion in auction proceeds. which would be reinvested into digital infrastructure and rural broadband expansion.
Egerton-Idehen assured that NIGCOMSAT had already secured a fully funded commercial backup satellite arrangement at the same 42.5° East orbital slot to prevent service disruption if NigComSat-1R experiences challenges.
