HAVANA, May 27 (Xinhua) -- Cuba will begin next month the first test on digital television in zones of Havana, using the Digital Terrestrial Multimedia Broadcast (DTMB) Chinese standard, official daily "Granma" reported Monday.
"Beginning from June, a demonstration of digital television service in Havana will allow the performance of broadcasting tests in real conditions," the daily quoted a statement by the Communications Ministry as saying.
As part of the test, signal decoder boxes, "that can receive and visualize the digital signal in the current televisions," will be distributed in selected neighborhoods to achieve an adequate geographical distribution in different reception conditions within the Cuban capital city.
The equipments were donated to Cuba by the Chinese government according to an agreement signed between the two countries.
"Granma" said since it was a test, the boxes would be delivered after a payment of 7.35 Cuban pesos (about 33 U.S. cents).
The goal is to introduce digital TV in Cuba in a gradual way and by regions, according to the economic possibilities and as part of the international technical evolution.
Analog reception will not be affected by the testing, according to the Communications Ministry.
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