Viet Nam is targeting moving to digital terrestrial Television broadcasting from analog by 2020 in the entire country as per the roadmap on development of digitalisation of television.

Deputy General Director of Authority of Radio Frequency management of Viet Nam, Le Van Tuan said at the opening ceremony of a workshop on issues related to digital TV broadcasting in Da Nang city on April 21.

He said the transition from analog to digital terrestrial television broadcasting is being seen as a necessary trend in the world and the region. ASEAN member states have also defined a roadmap for TV digitalisation between 2015 and 2020.

"The switchover from Analog to digital TV is somehow a complicated process with differences from country to country in the region, with reference to policies, regulations and technology," Tuấn said.

"The workshop today is a forum for spectrum managers, TV broadcasters, agencies in ASEAN sharing experience and samples of expertise in transition to digital TV," he said.

He said there are many challenges on how to manage quality of set-to-box and receivers, spectrum requirement that ASEAN countries have concerned.

Nguyen Hong Tuan, from Authority of Radio Frequency of Viet Nam, said Viet Nam has planned a fund of VND1.7 trillion to (US$76 million) for national analog-to-digital migration plan.

He said the country has 21.3 million households with colour TVs, and 6.7 million families using pay TV and 33 cable TV service providers along with three satellite digital TV and five digital terrestrial TV providers.

Nguyen Viet Hung, a service provider of digital terrestrial TV, said locals can pay only VNĐ700,000 for installation of a receiver with free subscription with old style TV sets, while new users could only pay for VNĐ100,000 for antenna installation.

"More people could enjoy better quality TV programmes with 40 channels. Việt Nam has built television stations in nearly 63 provinces and cities, and available infrastructure could help transit from analog to digital TV soon," he said.

Deputies from ASEAN countries and experts from Japan, Australia shared experience and information at a workshop on matters related to digital TV broadcastings in the central city.

The central city is the first city in Viet Nam and ASEAN to fully switch to digitalisation of television programmes.

Two years ago, Da Nang Radio and Television station became the first station outside a large metropolitan area to use satellite services for live broadcasts.

Only four Vietnamese channels have been allocated space on the satellite, Audio Vision Global, Viet Nam Multi-media Corporation, HCM Television and K-Plus.

The workshop closes today with field tours in DA Nang and Hoi An cities.

VNS