On its third mission with Kigali Today in Rwanda, BCE completed their radio network with the last two new transmitters making Kigali Today radio (KT radio) the first private radio able to cover all the country.
Back in 2013, Kigali Today, well-known in Rwanda for its News website, was eager to start a new FM radio. After consulting BCE experts, creating an infrastructure that met their needs, BCE helped the radio to find the most appropriate transmission site to cover Rwanda’s capital. In 2014, after the complete testing of the platform at BCE’s premises, the integration team went on site to install the studios and transmitters.
With the strong development of their radio, Kigali Today asked BCE to extend their coverage in 2016. Since the country is mainly mountainous or hilly, BCE advised to take advantage of the newly installed DVB-T2 national transmitter network of the local public broadcaster by adding on it KT radio, as a free to air audio service. This solution gave KT Radio a national coverage over DVB-T2 and permitted KT Radio to install FM transmitters on multiple sites with DVB-T2 reception. Then, two new FM RDS transmitters were installed to cover the East and South.
To complete the coverage of the country, BCE team went back to Rwanda in March 2017. Using the same DVB-T2 workflow, the team installed two new FM transmitters which gave KT Radio the ability to cover the additional northern and western territories.
Each step of the project was achieved in less than two weeks. Our experience in the international field allows our experts to work immediately in the country, using local skilled workforce and training the customer’s team to the use of the new platform and technologies. Thanks to its media experts in various technological fields, BCE is able to test the platforms (both radio and TV) in Luxembourg prior to their final integration in the country, reducing drastically the time-to-air and the risk of defective device.
“We are very proud of this third installation; it appears as a conclusion in making KT Radio. We have followed the evolution of the radio since its very beginning. We met their budget and needs while keeping the most suitable and reliable technology to ensure the perfect coverage of the country,” concludes Vincent Demarque, Project engineer at BCE.
/
