Handover Ceremony for the Technical Standards prepared by Japan on Digital Terrestrial Television Broadcasting (DTTB) project in Sri Lanka

H.E. MIZUKOSHI Hideaki, the Ambassador of Japan handed over the Technical Standards prepared by Japan to Hon. Bandula Gunawardana, Minister of Mass Media on 12th July 2023 in the presence of Mr. Tetsuya Yamada, Chief Representative of JICA Sri Lanka office; Mr. Anusha Palpita, Secretary and Mr. E.M.S.B. Jayasundara, Additional Secretary to the Ministry of Mass Media, and others.

Technical Standards prepared by Japan, so called Integrated Services Digital Broadcasting: ISDB-T is designed to provide reliable high-quality video, sound, and data broadcasting not only for fixed receivers but also for mobile receiver. Japanese ISDB-T is one of the most used digital TV standards in the world.

Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) together with Ministry of Mass Media is strongly committed to the digitalization of terrestrial television broadcasting in Sri Lanka which will significantly improve the quality of the broadcasting and the capacity of the digital space in Sri Lanka. JICA is fully utilizing and coordinating their available schemes including Loan, Technical Cooperation Project and Public-Private Partnership to provide total support from the distributing side to the receiving side for the successful shift to terrestrial digital broadcasting. The terrestrial digital broadcasting will realize the diverse services and effective use of frequencies which enhance the development of other purposes such as E-education, Intelligent Transport Service, Intelligent Security Systems, etc.

During the ceremony, Hon Minister welcomed the participants and accepted with gratitude the Technical Standard prepared by Japan, and he received the Standard from H.E. Ambassador.

The Secretary said that this is symbolic ODA on-going project, and this digital technology will save the future of broadcast. Also, he mentioned that this project is very important for Sri Lanka and happy to know that Japan is committed to this project.

H.E. Ambassador emphasized that this DTTB project will open many benefits to Sri Lankan viewers such as watching high-definition picture quality television, also it is extremely important to strengthen information and communication technology for implementing digital economy. He requested all stakeholders to continue efforts in this program.