Sentech, government's broadcasting signal distributor, has concluded its digital terrestrial television (DTT) infrastructure installation process.
The company says it has switched on all 178 of its transmitter stations nationwide, with the last of its DTT migration sites situated in Napier, Western Cape being activated on Thursday afternoon.
"[This means] a digital terrestrial population coverage of 84.23% and geographic coverage of 57.99%." The 15.77% of the population that will not be covered by DTT will be covered by the direct-to-home (DTH) satellite gap filler solution, which Sentech says is also complete.
Sentech CEO Setumo Mohapi says the DTT journey has been "intensive and fruitful". He says the state-owned entity has "come a long way" since its first transmitter switch on in the 2011/2012 financial year.
On Thursday communications minister Faith Muthambi announced Cabinet had approved the digital migration amendment policy, which advocates the inclusion of access control in set-top boxes.
Mohapi says Sentech will now be focusing on stabilisation and testing of the network "in order to ensure commercial readiness".
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