Lebanon Joined Eritrea to Condemn Ethiopias Jamming Practice
The Ethiopian government, in its desperate attempt to jam the increasingly popular Eritrean Television from being viewed in Ethiopia and the region, has instead knocked a number of other satellite TV operators out from the service of Arabsat and Nilesat networks.
Lebanon, the latest victim country, is now openly condemning the jamming practice of the Ethiopian government after it puts several of its TV channels out of the Arabsat network.
The countrys telecommunications Minister, Mr. Nicolas Sehnaoui, yesterday thrown his accusations at the increasingly totalitarian government of Ethiopia after results from the preliminary investigations into the jamming of Arabsat satellite transmission confirms Ethiopia as the source of the jamming signal.
Arabsat [officials] told us that the source of the jamming is Ethiopia and it handed us a copy of their complaint they have passed to Ethiopian authorities on this matter, said Sehnaoui.
Over the last year, several of radio and TV channels like the Qatar-based Al-Jazeera Arabic,Voice of America (VOA) and the German based radio Deutsche Welle (DW) have been experiencing the same signal interferences sponsored by the Ethiopian government.
What worried Arabsat officials most was the Ethiopian governments technological capability in operating those jamming machines as it ended up last month kicking out its own state-owned TV channel out of the network.
There needs to be a permanent solution to this jamming problem, said Sehnaoui, adding that contacts are ongoing with the administration of Arabsat to assign a new frequency for their transmission in Lebanon.
Eritrean Television, which was the target of the jamming practice from the onset, has returned back to its original frequencies after operating in a different transmission frequency for some time.
Satellite network companies Arabsat and Nilesat are under considerable pressure from respective governments and TV operators to force the reclusive Ethiopian government to stop either its signal interference practices or suspend its lone state-owned television channel indefinitely from their networks.
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Received on Sun Feb 19 2012 - 08:57:30 EST
