Afghanistan’s broadcast spectrum is a mess. The rush to get radio and television signals on the air after the fall of the Taliban crammed more signals than could be accommodated into the available spectrum. Things were done in too big a hurry to allow for careful planning. Instead, shoehorning in all the new licensees was the procedure, particularly in Kabul which remains the center of business development in the country and the largest market by a wide margin.
Broadcast licensing is a two Ministry function in Afghanistan. The Ministry of Information and Culture passes judgement on the suitability of the applicant after receiving assurances from the prospective broadcaster that the intended programming will not violate cultural norms or run contrary to Islamic values. From the MIC comes what is usually called a broadcast license.
The Ministry of Communications and Information Technology is the other Ministry. Here the Afghanistan Telecommunication Regulatory Authority (ATRA) authorizes spectrum space for the broadcaster. This is called the frequency license.
When commercial broadcasting returned as the Taliban departed it seemed that everyone had a reason to want to become a broadcaster, most particularly in Kabul. There was no structure for competitive bidding for licenses defined in a table of allocations. Licenses were granted to the point of frequency congestion and near chaos. The Kabul geography simplified things a bit there since most broadcasters would locate on what came to be known as TV hill. However, channel spacing standards were never considered. Kabul has three UHF television stations assigned on adjacent channels.
Further complicating the spectrum issues is the absence of regulations for spectral purity or out of band emissions. Many transmitters operate without output filtering. With most Kabul broadcasters located on the same hill this allows endless options for intermodulation. A spectrum analyzer display on the hill is a scary sight. ATRA was never funded so as to be able to establish an enforcement arm that could ensure compliance with the ITU regulations to which it is bound or even to verify that broadcasters were operating within the limits of their license.
All this is about to change. In the manner of WHTZ, Afghanistan will go from worst to first. Not having any digital transition baggage to discard Afghanistan can step from the realm of analog transmission technology directly to DVB-T2. MCIT published this month the tender to make the nightmare of hasty spectrum allocation go away.
Rollout and coverage conditions are specified. Eighty percent of the population must be served within five years of license grant. Analog television turn off will occur five years as service is established in each area.
By lagging behind in technology Afghanistan is now poised for a great leap forward. While many Western nations debate what can be done to allow a transition from some intermediate digital stepping stone, Afghanistan will move from the realm of analog transmission to DVB-T2 and DVB-RCT with a single frequency network.
There is some very interesting technology planned on this side of the Durand Line. Tender mercies.