Victor Martinez, Technical Manager at the Paraguayan National Telecommunications Commission (Conatel), confirmed that the country has delayed the analog blackout, now scheduled to take place on December 31st, 2021, one year after it was originally agreed. Martinez also reported that DTT migration will take place in stages, starting in Asuncion and surrounding cities.

‘Paraguayan market does not have the amount of STBs that allow us to implement the analog blackout. Conatel decided to change the methodology and implement it by regions. In Asuncion we are more advanced, but we are still far from implementing it in the rest of the country’, Martinez said in dialogue with local media ABC Cardinal.

Conatel’s manager also reported that the entity is working on a communication plan to get Paraguayans ready for the DTT migration. ‘We have to make people know about it. It is not just the STB, but people also need to have an antenna to adapt the analog set and access the digital network’. he explained.

Digital TV standard chosen in Paraguay is the Japanese-Brazilian one (ISDB-T / SBTVD), as established on Decree N° 4,483 (June 1st, 2010).