The digital terrestrial television (DTT) signal currently covers just over 85 percent of the population of the Canary Islands, with six months to go before the start of the analog blackout, which will affect Gran Canaria and Lanzarote, and in April 2010, the rest of the Archipelago. According to the network operator Albertis Telecom, there are currently 16 distribution centers in service distributed in strategic points of the Islands, which will be expanded to cover the coverage rate set by government projects.
The Technical Plan and the Transition Plan designed by the Ministry of Industry, Tourism and Commerce establishes that in April 2010 the digital terrestrial television signal should cover the homes of 96.2 percent of the Canaries. According to Juan Ruiz, director of R&D of the Canary Agency for New Technologies, belonging to the autonomous government, "coverage in the Community is relatively high, even above the Spanish average, although we are still far from meeting the objectives," he says.
The Secretary of State for Telecommunications, due to the special orographic conditions of the islands, has established some differentials with respect to the objectives pursued in the rest of the State in the spring of 2010. In this way, Televisión Española and Televisión Canaria, which should reach the quota of 98 percent coverage, will have to reach 96.2 percent in the Islands. Private channels share lower requirements. In the Canary Islands, they are required to cover 92.3 percent of the population and in the rest of the country, 96 percent.
To ensure that the digital signal reaches all corners of the Islands, the Ministry of Industry, Tourism and Commerce, through the expansion plans, has signed an agreement with the autonomous government for the co-financing of the installation of repeaters in places with difficult coverage. "In the next decade there will be an investment of 37 million euros basically to cover these areas, called shadow areas, and also to improve and expand broadband," says Juan Ruiz.
THREE PHASES
The transition between analog and digital technology will be carried out in three phases. The first stage, scheduled for June 30, 2009, establishes a blackout of the terrestrial signal on the islands of Gran Canaria and Lanzarote. The second, on December 31 of that same year, in Fuerteventura and La Palma; and the third phase, in April 2010, in La Gomera, El Hierro and Tenerife.
Even with full coverage, the digital signal that is often tuned in television receivers is deficient. "The image is cut off, freezes or pixelates due to a poor installation of the antenna or a poor condition of it. Very rarely the fault that we see defective the DTT signal has its origin in the transmitting or repeater centers," explains Juan Manuel Jiménez, president of the employers' association of antenna installers of Las Palmas.
ACN Press
