2024-04-27 18:34:08
Photo: Photo: Roy Leyra | CN360
Text: Editorial Cuba Noticias 360
It recently emerged in state media that Cuba will once again begin the partial transition to digital television. But to reach this technological step it is necessary that the citizens of the Caribbean island have access to the signal decoder boxes.
The “little boxes”, as they are popularly known, have been the reason for delay in this transition to digital television in Cuba. However, so far there has been no detailed explanation of how citizens will acquire them.
Two years ago, in 2021, the demand for these devices was greater than their production. According to official figures, in 2021, only 75% of the total demand at that time was manufactured.
For Cuba to make the leap to digital television, it is necessary for homes to have a digital television that receives the DTMB standard, or a hybrid television (analog and DTMB), or a DTMB decoder box (with an analog television).
The figures for digital television in Cuba do not take into account the repair or replacement of the boxes of people who may have acquired them since 2013, when the most concrete steps were taken to change from analogue television to digital television. digital.
For the production of these elements, the Cuban authorities count on Chinese investment. Most of the components and parts used in the assembly process come from that country, the second trading partner and main provider of technical assistance to the Caribbean nation in the matter.
Another issue of concern regarding access to decoder boxes would be the price at which they will be marketed. The Cuban government has said on several occasions that it will not sell them in Freely Convertible Currency, but in Cuban Peso, but since last year the prices in stores and in the informal market of the boxes reached worrying figures.
Currently in the informal market the prices of the boxes can range from 40 US dollars to 9,500 Cuban pesos.
One of the reasons why the nation’s authorities have decided to resume this technological leap is to free up the 700 MHz frequency band and thereby expand the 4G mobile telephone service. But if the decoder boxes do not appear, they may fall into the old saying of undressing one saint to dress another.