Deputy Minister for Research, Innovation and Digital Policy Nikodemos Damianou made the extraordinary admission that, despite his ministry being responsible for digital policy, it does not know the extent of digital illiteracy among citizens.
Writing in Phileleftheros on Sunday, Damianou acknowledged that the authorities failed to properly assess the situation which arose with television receivers following the transition from Velister to Hellas Sat.
"From the data we have collected, it appears that there was one parameter whose scale could not be adequately assessed from a technical perspective: the unsatisfactory condition of installations in the homes of a segment of citizens," the deputy minister wrote.
In the same article, he also places some of the blame for the disruption on Velister.
"There was essentially no upgrade of the service,"
he wrote regarding the 15 years during which Velister operated the broadcasting network.
It should be recalled that Velister had been sending letters and issuing warnings since 2023 about problems that existed.
The Department of Electronic Communications had proposed extending Velister's contract until 2035, despite the issues highlighted by the company. Ultimately, this did not happen and a tender process was launched, which was won by Hellas Sat.
However much the deputy ministry attempts to place responsibility on citizens who were allegedly not properly informed, or on the two private companies involved, questions remain, including:
- How could a ministry responsible for innovation fail to know how technologically literate or digitally excluded citizens are, so that problems could be avoided?
- Why was there no effective information campaign regarding the switch to the new digital broadcasting system?
- Why was there no assessment, study or public survey during the initial transition period, which might have justified an extension before problems emerged, instead of only after complaints had already been submitted?
Politis contacted the Deputy Minister for Innovation in writing. In a message, he said he did not wish to comment.
The ministry will nevertheless have to provide convincing explanations regarding the problems that arose with digital television and the errors that forced authorities to reverse course and reactivate Velister's equipment, after AKEL submitted the issue for discussion before the House Transport Committee.
According to information obtained by Politis, the government believes there has been a degree of exaggeration by the opposition over the matter, while still acknowledging that problems exist.
Meetings are taking place as officials search for solutions, given that Velister's equipment is outdated and parallel transmission cannot continue indefinitely.
According to the same information, two options are being examined: the possibility of subsidising decoder devices using income criteria and, at the same time, requesting a reduction in the strength of the signal transmitted by Hellas Sat.
