A major setback has been the over 82 million cedis in duties on set-top boxes currently locked up in warehouses. The government says resolving these bottlenecks is critical to fast-tracking distribution and completing the switch.

Sector minister, Sam Nartey George speaking at the Broadcasting at Crossroads forum organized by the Africa Media Bureau in partnership with Channel One TV and Citi FM expressed optimism that final distribution will soon commence, assuring stakeholders of government’s commitment to achieve a full digital migration despite Ghana missing previous deadlines.

“We have not done the digital switch over because of some of the things I inherited—policy wise there was this purchase of set top boxes. The boxes are stack in a warehouse. There are duties in the excess of 82 million Ghana cedis. We have figured a way around it. We will do the digital switch over once these boxes get into the market when the NCA finishes all they are doing,” he said.

He added that: “My hope is that by the end of Q2 2026 we could have finished those distribution and then announce the digital switch over.”

The Broadcasting at the Crossroads Forum was climaxed with the sector minister commending the organisers for driving the industry dialogue. He, however, challenged them to present a draft report for onward technical deliberations, stressing that actionable recommendations will be key to transforming Ghana’s broadcasting landscape.

“We must have some tangibles out of this, so there’s going to be a workshop report and the report will not come and sit on our desk at the Ministry but it is for us to step up a technical working group from the NCA, GIBA, NMC, AMB and all other stakeholders so that all the issues we have raised here we look at the way forward,” he said.