Gospell Digital Technology Opens Factory in Calabar

•Pioneers Nigeria’s Surface Mount Technology 
•800 young engineers, technologists, others to benefit

 

By Bennett Oghifo

Following the International Telecommunications’ Union (ITU) deadline for all its member countries to go digital in 2006 and the need to transit from analogue to digital broadcasting, Gospell Digital Technology FZE has moved beyond meeting the Set-Top Boxes and decoders required in Nigeria, to investing in local production and knowledge transfer in the country.

 The Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed and his counterpart for trade and Investment Okechukwu Enelamah have already confirmed attendance at the opening of the Gospell Digital Technology complex located at the Free Trade Zone in Calabar. The Governor Ben Ayade has visited the factory to confirm that the place is ready to roll out.

Interestingly, at inception, the Federal Government in a bid to meet a deadline of June 17, 2017 for the full digitisation of the broadcast landscape licensed some local companies to produce the set top boxes for the actualisation of the process.

However, only Gospell Digital located in Calabar and Port Harcourt was able to reach a significant milestone in the production of the DTT and DTH boxes for the transition.

The company has however moved beyond producing Set-Top Boxes. In conjunction Shenzhen Skyworth and Mishan of China, they are Pioneering efforts to invest in local production and knowledge transfer by opening 3 Surface Mount Technology (SMT) Automatic chip placements line and 4 pneumatic assembly lines, with capacity of placing 250,000 components per hour and production of 200,000 set top boxes per month.

The SMT line, the first and largest in West Africa is currently able to manufacture in excess of 100,000 printed circuit boards (PCB) per month (i.e. decoders, prepaid electricity meters, smart phones and television main boards) while also assembling set top boxes and tablets.

Gospell will be formally opened on Thursday October 5 at the Free Trade Zone in Calabar by the Vice President. It will employ about 300 direct staff- young electrical engineers and technologists, with additional job creation of over 500 contract staff and another 1000 or more value added service providers and technicians nationwide.

The major significance of the Gospell Digital SMT line factory is its pioneering effort in technology transfers especially the manufacture of Digital Television Set Top Box (DTT and DTH) and android cable and wireless Customer Premises Equipment (CPE) in West Africa.

Significantly, Gospell Digital FZE is also a white label company involved in contract manufacturing for different brands. As such the desire to partner with local STB Assembly plants, PayTv /Free To Air (FTA) and cable TV platforms; Electricity Distribution companies (DISCOs), Electrical home appliance companies, Telcos and Science and Technology Institutions and agencies.

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