In light of the upcoming digital migration of Philippine television, the Embassy of France has invited experts to provide updates on the European standard, DVB-T2, for the government agencies mandated to draw up a migration plan for the country.
On March 16, 2012, the Embassy, in collaboration with the National Telecommunications Commission organized a DVB-T2 symposium to present the latest technological developments of the second generation Digital Video Broadcast for terrestrial television to members of the Technical Working Group formed by the NTC to draft the Implementing Rules and Regulations (TWG-IRR) for digital migration, as well as representatives of the different Television Networks, members of the Kapisanan ng mga Brodkaster ng Pilipinas (KBP) and concerned agencies, including the Information and Communications Technology Office (ICTO).
French Digital Technology Expert from the Conseil Supérieur de l’Audiovisuel, the French regulatory agency, Engineer Sébastien Flatresse demonstrated the unique advantages of DVB-T2, with particular reference to the Physical Layer Pipe technology, that allow for added robustness, increased bandwidth and efficiency of the system. He recounted the French experience on the roll out of DVB-T and the impending upgrade to T2 for 2015.
France successfully switched off analog broadcast on November 30, 2011.
Meanwhile, Ronan Le Bras, representing the French equipment company ENENSYS, further complemented the technical presentation with information on the growing market for DVB-T2 with more than 47 countries having adopted the standard and 10 countries starting commercial roll out since the beginning of the year. ST Microelectronics, Franco-Italian chip manufacturer with production facilities in the Philippines further confirmed that the growing deployment of DVB-T2 set-top boxes is already bringing down the prices of the receivers. While the early DVB-T2 set top boxes were sold in 2010 at 150 Euros, prices have gone down to 80 Euros in 2011, are currently at 35 and continue to drop as the standard is rolled out in important territories all over the world.
The French Embassy offers to provide support to the concerned agencies, the TWG, the NTC, as well as the ICTO in the elaboration of the digital migration plan.
