The mystery is over. After more than two years of evaluation, the Ministry of Transport and Communications (MTC) announced that the government has decided to adopt the Japanese-Brazilian standard for the digital terrestrial television (DTT) system, which will be implemented in the country starting in 2011, thus initiating the transition to this new system.
The head of the MTC, Enrique Cornejo, made the announcement at the Government Palace accompanied by Shunichi Yamaguchi, envoy of the Prime Minister of Japan, Taro Aso, who has promoted the system together with the Government of Brazil.
“It’s a step towards modernity,” Cornejo declared, explaining that this change will give viewers a clearer signal and allow them to watch TV from portable devices, such as cell phones and personal computers.
THE DECISION. The minister indicated that the decision was made based on the report of a multi-sector commission that since February 2007 has been dedicated to comparing the American (ATSC), European (DVB-T), Chinese (DTMB), Japanese (ISDB-T) standards and its most modern version, the Brazilian (SBTVT).
According to Cornejo, the evaluation considered which option was technologically superior, the amount of technical and financial cooperation each promoting country offered, and the implementation costs for both television channels and viewers. Viewers will need to purchase set-top boxes to receive the signal on their current analog televisions when the analog switch-off occurs, expected in 10 to 15 years.
According to sources from the evaluation committee, which presented its report in February, the decision was influenced by the fact that the Japanese-Brazilian version was the most sophisticated technology.
It would also have helped that the National Society of Radio and Television had publicly expressed its support for that standard and that the Brazilian government had offered cooperation of US$1,445,000 million for its implementation.
However, analysts warned that the prices of decoders for this system are the highest because they have a number of additional features, attractive to the Japanese and Brazilian markets.
Liliana Ruiz, former general manager of Osiptel, said that “the standard is technologically well developed, but the decoders are not the cheapest, costing US$$200 in Japan and US$$80 in Brazil, while the American one costs US$$20 with a government subsidy.”.
Eduardo Villanueva, a professor in the Department of Communications at PUCP, stated that this system is the most expensive for the consumer, so he asked: “How does this align with the expression of taking this factor into account when choosing a standard?”.
This and other questions could not be answered because the MTC did not publish the commission's report yesterday, even though Minister Cornejo said in the morning that it would be done immediately.
For their part, sources from the commission assured that these teams are no more
They are more expensive than those sold in the US or Europe. They indicated that the report, to be published today, suggested using international cooperation to facilitate the purchase of converters or digital televisions. Now it is up to the government to decide whether to subsidize this equipment in Peru.