Libyan broadcasting is firmly on the road to digitization after the EBU, UNESCO and the Libyan government drafted a roadmap to the launch of a digital terrestrial network by June 2015 and eventual analogue switch-off.

The stride forward emerged from a landmark conference in Tripoli this week where Libyan government ministers (of Information, Telecommunications and Planning – but also Culture, Economy and Education) met international experts conveyed by EBU, and UNESCO and the EBU’s Libyan Member LNC /AL Watanya.

Participants spent three days debating the future of broadcasting in Libya, a country that lost up to 40 per cent of its once robust analogue infrastructure during the 2011 revolution and ensuing civil war. Issues under scrutiny were how to drive the transition from analogue to digital; which future broadcasting regulatory model is best suited to Libya and how to exploit the digital dividend in the public interest.

Opening the conference on 4 March, EBU Vice President Claudio Cappon said the meeting symbolized the return of Libya to the international audiovisual community, and he urged participants to make sensible decisions to ensure a sound future for Libyan broadcasting (speech available here). 

He said: “Through digitization you can build a better TV offer, not only through the multiplication of the available channels, but also introducing new services and new technological innovations, such as HDTV, interactive television, enhanced radio (…) We hope that you will use your national broadcaster – truly and fully transformed into a public service broadcaster – as the cornerstone of a new pluralistic and democratic dual audiovisual media system: where public and private broadcasters both contribute to building the Libya of tomorrow.”

As well EBU spectrum expert Walid Sami, speakers came from the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), the African Telecommunication Union (ATU), the World Bank, the Arab States Broadcasting Union (ASBU) and others.