Prof Makame Mbarawa

Ministry of Communication, Science and Technology and the Tanzania Communication Regulatory Authority (TCRA) has said it will continue to provide education to the public on the inevitable switch from analogue to digital in the hope that the public realizes its benefits.

Ministry of Communication, Science and Technology headed by Minister Prof Makame Mbarawa made the remark yesterday in Dar es Salaam during his familiarisation tour of the TCRA headquarters.

“We have to do a lot to ensure that Tanzanians are well aware of the system before it is made official…’ said the minister who went on to call upon what he referred to as, ‘responsible authorities’ to come up with strategies that will help provide awareness campaigns…” asserted Mbarawa.

Prof Mbarawa underlined that TCRA has already started educating the people but that there is a need to conduct mass campaigns as majority of the people are still not aware of the process.

“The process must be conducted early to prepare the advent of digital technology when the time comes…” Prof Mbarawa said and added that information and communication technologies were growing rapidly and act as catalysts for social and economic development.

The ministry intends to ensure that customers using electronic equipments, particularly TVs will be enabled to handle the sophisticated formats of the equipment and the planned technological change before it is too late.

He took the opportunity to highlight the implications of video conferencing saying that it will reduce cost as well as save time and travel cost when it comes to group meetings and other conference related meetings.