The National Communications Authority (NCA), has warned the public against buying unapproved Digital Terrestrial Television (DTT) receivers (televisions and set top boxes).
According to the NCA, many of the set top boxes do not meet the certified standard and will not function when there is switch from analogue broadcasting to digital broadcasting
In an interview with Citi Business News the Director for Engineering at the NCA, Henry Kanor, said it is important that dealers and importers comply to protect users with regards to environmental health and safety standards including electromagnetic radiation and emissions.
“Our checks on the market reveal that there are companies in Nigeria and elsewhere who try to flood our market with those products and we realise that it’s only through education that our fellow countrymen will know that when you buy such boxes you buy it at your own peril because our test on these boxes have shown that they don’t meet the standard in the country and will not even last. This is also because they do not conform to the regime that we have in Ghana.”
He further stated that “We are taking the GRA through some form of training; as they man the country’s entry points, they must know the specification to be able to determine unapproved set top boxes being brought into the country.”
Meanwhile Henry Kanor assured that the authority was trying to nip the infiltration of unapproved receivers in the bud to ensure that Ghana’s boarder’s especially inland ones which are porous are not used to import.
“We will also intensify our market surveillance as when you buy it and it does not conform to the regime you may not get the benefit that you need to get” he stated.
A recent visit by the NCA’s market surveillance team to some markets have revealed that while there were certified receivers on the market, some dealers were also selling uncertified receivers, thus putting the consumers at risk.
Some of the unproved set up boxes on the market the public has been asked not to purchase include brands like Mac Sunny, Open Box, Free Sat, TuchnoSat, Odaimond Star, J-Star, Vidbox, Combo and DigiSat.
The Authority has a mandate under Section 66 of the Electronic Communications Act, 2008, Act 775 to certify terminal equipment of public electronic communications network.
The Authority may regulate, prohibit the sale or other distribution or connection of terminal equipment or other device that is provided in the country primarily for the purposes of circumventing, or facilitating the circumvention of a requirement of this Act.
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