Chinese Government provides $1.5 million grant for Satellite TV Project for 300 Villages (Linked to Project ID#57618)

On July 28, 2017, the Chinese Embassy in Ghana issued a letter to Ghana’s Minister of Finance, seeking confirmation that his government wished to proceed with the Satellite TV Project for 300 Villages Project, requesting a project coordinator, and asking for a list of the 300 villages where the satellite TV equipment should be installed. On August 1, 2017, Ghana’s Minister of Finance responded to the letter from the Chinese Embassy. The Minister confirmed his government’s acceptance of the project, identified Ghana’s Ministry of Communications as the project coordinator, and provided a list of 300 beneficiary villages. Then, on November 29, 2017, the Chinese Government and the Government of Ghana signed an exchange of letters, which codified a $1,531,721.98 grant commitment for the Satellite TV Project for 300 Villages. The proceeds of the grant were to be used to finance a contract [ID#WCT03-Ghana-G01] between the Government of Ghana and Startimes Software Technology Co. Ltd., which was signed on May 7, 2018. The project involved the provision of two sets of solar project TV systems, one digital TV integrated with a decoder, and digital decoder systems to 300 communities (villages): 57 communities from the Ashanti Region, 43 communities from the Eastern Region, 37 communities from the Greater Accra Region and 35 communities from the Central Region, 31 communities from Brong Ahafo Region, 30 villages from the Northern Region, 24 communities from the Western Region, 18 communities from the Volta Region, 17 villages from the Upper East Region, 8 villages from the Upper West Region. Beneficiary villages were to be jointly selected by Ghana’s Ministry of Communications and StarTimes based on the following criteria: (1) villages with a certain scale (e.g. about 100 households) and more TV sets; (2) villages with convenient transportation and close to the city; (3) villages with public areas (e.g. public toilets, schools, hospitals, etc.); (4) villages with a certain amount of power infrastructure or daily power generation equipment; and (5) villages that support projects and are willing to provide the ‘appropriate implementation guarantee’. In each village/community that participated in the project, 20 households were selected on the basis of need and provided with 20 sets of satellite TV set-top boxes (STBs). A public area in each village was also equipped with two sets of solar-powered projection TV systems and one set of solar 32-inch digital TV integrated together. The public areas were able to access two channels of StarTimes entertainment free of charge. The beneficiary households that were selected on the basis of need were able to access 30 channels free of charge (including CGTN and CNC World) for 6 months after installation of the STBs. At the end of the 6-month period, free access to the 30 channel “bouquet” came to an end except for 2 free-to-air (FTA) channels — specifically, GTV and GTV Sports Plus. After the six-month free access period came to an end, the beneficiary households automatically became subscribers and could access the 30 channels, only upon payment of a monthly subscription of 15 Ghana cedis. Beneficiary households that failed to subscribe after free access came to an end and those who subscribed but later failed to renew their subscriptions were only granted access to 2 free-to-air (FTA) channels — specifically, GTV and GTV Sports Plus. StarTimes Software Technology Co., Ltd. was the contractor responsible for project implementation. It was also responsible for the maintenance and repairs of the devices once they were installed at no cost to the beneficiary communities for a five-year period. StarTimes was also expected to train 600 ‘ambassadors’ — two people selected from each of the 300 villages/communities — on the installation and maintenance of these devices. Project implementation was originally expected to take place between April 2018 and September 2018. However, it ultimately commenced on September 26, 2018 and ended on May 10, 2019. This project is part of the larger regional commitment to establish satellite TV to 10,000 villages from China to a number of African nations (captured via Project ID#57618).

Additional details

1. The contract [ID#WCT03-Ghana-G01] between the Government of Ghana and Startimes Software Technology Co. Ltd. can be accessed in its entirety via https://www.dropbox.com/s/9ma1jrti0vgsc4o/Grant%20Agreement%20for%20Satellite%20TV%20Project%20for%20300%20Villages%20Project.pdf?dl=0. It includes a preliminary list of the 300 beneficiary villages. 2. This project is also known as the China_Aided 300 Villages Satellite TV Project. The Chinese name for this project is 中国援非“万村通”加纳项目. 3. CNC World is a majority state-owned 24-hour global English-language news channel, launched on July 1, 2010. It is 51% owned by the state-run China Xinhua News Network Corporation. CGTN is an international English-language cable TV news service based in Beijing, China. It is one of six channels provided by China Global Television Network, owned by the Chinese state media China Central Television, under the control of the Publicity Department of the Chinese Communist Party.

Number of official sources

5

Number of total sources

7