Cuba will turn off analog television throughout the country in 2026

Cuba will turn off thetelevision analogue throughout the country in 2026, according to island authorities before deputies to theNational Assembly of People's Power (ANPP).

The transition process from analogue to digital television in the central zone will be carried out during this year, while in the eastern zone it will be in 2025 to carry out the entire shutdown during 2026, the official newspaper reported this Wednesday.Granma on the statements of the Minister ofCommunications, Mayra Arevich Marín, before the ANPP Services Attention Commission.

He also explained that the sustainability over time of the program will always be taken into account, as well as the production of boxes by the national industry and that the partial transition was implemented in the western region with satisfactory results.

He said that RadioCuba's transmitter infrastructure has 208 digital transmitters; 153 in Standard Definition (SD) and 55 High Definition (HD) and that all transmission centers in the West are connected by fiber optics.

Likewise, he commented that 52 analog transmitters were removed from service to increase the coverage of digital television and the Multivision channel for more than one million users.

In addition, he reported that this process allows the radio spectrum in the 700 MHz band to be released so that the Cuban Telecommunications Company can use it in the deployment of fourth generation (4G) mobile broadband networks.

Arevich Marín admitted before legislators that in 2022 the national industry could not produce decoder boxes due to lack of financing.

“This year, financing was acquired and the production of approximately 26,000 devices began, which will allow the program to advance in the province of Matanzas, while the implementation of the transition in the municipality of Matanzas is being studied with the MINED and the MTSS. Passenger Waterfall in Cienfuegos,” he commented.

He also explained that they are working on an innovation project with the University of Villa Clara to nationally produce a decoder box, which is now in the process of approval with the industry.

In March of this year,It was reported that starting in the second quarter, Havana would begin to implement the partial transition process to Digital Terrestrial Television. (TDT), which has already been fully activated in Pinar del Río and Artemisa.

Carlos Arencibia García, technical director of the RadioCuba company, informed the newspaper on that occasionGranma that the conciliation process was being developed with the capital authorities to begin its execution,before continuing through Mayabeque and Matanzas, in that order.

Arencibia García detailed that the coverage of the digital signal in standard definition (SD) increased from 76.23% to 77.14%, while in high definition (HD), it rose from 45.7% to 47.65%.

The objective is that by the end of the year the partial transition will be achieved (eliminating analog transmissions from the Educational 1 and Educational 2 channels in the central region, where SD coverage will increase to 89%, and HD coverage to 60%.

To activate this partial transition, the government established two essential conditions: that all classrooms can receive the DTT-SD signal, and that all beneficiaries of social assistance have been given and installed the digital receiver (the popularly called little box).

According to the manager, in the western part of Cuba, televisions were guaranteed for all schools, a free digital receiver was given to beneficiaries of social assistance, and nearly 300,000 receivers were sold in national currency.

In the central region, only in the areas under implementation and according to possibilities, receivers will be sold and the coverage of the DTT-HD signal and that of Multivision in analog television will be improved.

With this process of partial transition to digital television, the government intends to increase the coverage area of the DTT-SD service, equaling it to the current analog television coverage of educational channels.

In January, the province ofArtemisa closed the analog transmissions of the Educativo and Educativo 2 channels.

Since then, the Multivisión signal in the territory switched to channel 19, while the Cubavisión (7) and Tele Rebelde (11) channels remain on the same analog signal, 13 on the standard channel and 47 on the high definition channel. .

"The partial transition does not mean turning off all the channels, and not providing the service immediately. It is gradual, according to the dynamics established for its development. Even in previous months, work was already being done in mountainous areas of San Cristóbal and Bahía Honda where installed digital transmitters," said René García González, provincial director of RadioCuba.

Artemisa was the second Cuban province to execute the transition to digital television, afterOn December 3, Pinar del Río will begin the process.

In September 2021, the Cuban government announced that three months laterthe analog blackout would begin in the western region, from Pinar del Río to Matanzas, but for reasons that were not explainedpostponed to March 2022.

However theprocess was again postponed until September and then for December 3 of last year.