Australian High Commission
Papua New Guinea

MR 090804 NBC at cutting edge

MEDIA RELEASE

Tuesday, 4 August 2009

For Immediate Release

NBC at the cutting edge

The PNG National Broadcasting Corporation is now at the cutting edge of technology thanks to a new satellite broadcasting and distribution system.

The new system, inaugurated today by Australian High Commissioner to PNG, HE Chris Moraitis, and PNG’s Minister for Communication and Information, the Hon Patrick Tammur, promises to deliver NBC much more clearly and easily to more Papua New Guineans than ever before.

The K7.4 million system – funded through the PNG-Australia development program – will increase the reach, reliability and the quality of signal sent the length and breadth of PNG and beyond.

“Communication is vital in today’s world and communication plays a vital role in a country’s development,” said Mr Moraitis.

“Communication in a democratic society like PNG means that the people hear the good news and the bad. They hear about national political affairs and they hear about local issues. They hear news, weather, cultural programs, sport, and discussion and debate. And through all this, people gather information which has a major effect on their lives.

“And that’s why Australia is pleased to be involved with this program.”

Since the provincial network was established NBC has relied on dedicated telephone landlines to distribute National Radio to the 19 provincial stations – a costly and increasingly unreliable resource.

Now a signal will go from NBC in Port Moresby up to a satellite from where it beams down across the whole area of the satellite’s footprint. The satellite signal will be captured by a smaller dish at each provincial site then decoded and sent to the local transmitters. All of this is occurs virtually instantly with no loss of broadcast quality.

And the end result is NBC now has a more modern system than the ABC in Australia.

“This is a great outcome for NBC but more importantly it’s a great outcome for the people of PNG,” said Minister Tammur.

“As PNG moves forward in so many ways so must communication keep pace – it is right and fitting that our national broadcaster should be at the cutting edge of technology. I thank Australia for their commitment to the development partnership between our two countries.”