As Cabinet meets this week ahead of president Jacob Zuma's State of the Nation Address next Thursday, ITWeb understands it is finally going to sort out the tricky issue of set-top box controls.
This comes on the back of the ruling party's own lekgotla, held last week, at which the ANC determined the digital migration process must be finalised so that broadband rollout can be supported.
The ANC's meeting prompted a media report suggesting last week's lekgotla had cleared the way for digital TV to finally be rolled out. SA is at least three years behind its initial switch on target and is now set to miss the International Telecommunication Union's mid-year deadline when the protection of analogue signal ceases.
The ANC's lekgotla determined ICT, especially broadband, has the "potential to propel our economy to higher levels of growth, opening opportunities for new industries, and modernising the delivery of social and economic services".
The ANC also said government must move with the "necessary speed" to meet the 15 June deadline. On the back of this meeting, Business Day this morning reports the ANC determined a previous Cabinet decision advocating encryption must be implemented and directed communications minister Faith Muthambi to take its decision to the Cabinet meeting.
Up to Cabinet
However, ANC spokesman Zizi Kodwa denies the ANC has instructed government to implement encryption, noting that only Cabinet can make this decision. "The decision about digital migration encryption will come at the Cabinet lekgotla, which is sitting as we speak."
Encryption has been a sticking point in SA's slow move to digital television and its associated benefits, as it stalled the process at the end of 2011 when etv won a court battle to prevent then communications minister Dina Pule from selecting Sentech to manage encryption.
Subsequently, former communications minister Yunus Carrim tried to resolve an impasse between the broadcasters over whether encryption would be required. Etv is in favour of set-top box controls, arguing these will protect the industry, while the South African Broadcasting Service and MultiChoice are opposed to the system.
Carrim proposed that state-subsidised boxes make use of the technology, but it would be up to broadcasters to implement encryption. However, his middle path failed to appease the broadcasters, and no final decision was made.
This issue was set to be resolved through the finalisation of the Digital Migration Policy, which has been with Cabinet since about the middle of last year, without a resolution. Because of the lack of clarity, the Universal Services and Access Agency of SA issued tender documents calling for quotes for decoders with, and without, encryption.
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