Mass Media Minister Dullas Alahapperuma launched the Digital Terrestrial Television Broadcasting Project in Colombo yesterday. The project to digitalize Sri Lankan television broadcasting is carried out by the Ministry of Mass Media in collaboration with the Japan International Cooperation Agency. Former Media Minister and now Health Minister Dr.Keheliya Rambukwella and Ambassador of Japan to Sri Lanka MIZUKOSHI Hideaki too were among the gathering.

Minister Dullas Alahapperuma said the government aims to complete project by the year 2025. This project was to inaugurate a decade ago, but due to various reasons it was delayed. He added that he is happy to take the support for this project from the technological giant, Japan.

Government Information Department says that all viewers, broadcasters, and the Government will benefit from the project. The Department further said that viewers will be able to remove multiple antennas and watch all TV channels with one antenna, while they will also receive clearer visuals through the digitization. Currently, each channel has to use individual frequency bands under the local broadcasting system. However, with the new digitization program, the capacity of the Frequency Spectrum in Sri Lanka will increase exponentially, increasing the capacity to a single frequency by eight times or even 800 percent. Due to this, in addition to the existing active television channels in the country, 200 more TV channels will be allowed to broadcast a number of new programmes.