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Full steam ahead for digital migration

Nicola Mawson
By Nicola Mawson, Contributor.
Johannesburg, 20 Apr 2015
The Department of Communications has yet to review etv's court papers seeking an amendment to the digital migration policy.
The Department of Communications has yet to review etv's court papers seeking an amendment to the digital migration policy.

Although government has yet to announce a firm turn on date for migration to digital television, the Department of Communications is pushing for an 18-month process.

This comes despite a pending legal challenge from free-to-air broadcaster etv, which has gone to the North Gauteng High Court to ask that minister Faith Muthambi's latest iteration of the Broadcasting Digital Migration policy be amended to protect free-to-air broadcasters.

South Africa has been moving towards digital television for the past nine years but has, so far, missed several deadlines to turn digital broadcast on, and analogue television off. The country is set to miss the International Telecommunication Union's mid-2015 deadline to migrate.

Moving to digital television will free up much-needed spectrum around the 800MHz range, which can be used to provision additional television services, or by mobile operators to deepen penetration of long-term evolution. This so-called digital dividend will help SA meet its target of ubiquitous broadband by 2020.

Steaming ahead

Now the country is fast-tracking migration and aims to switch over to digital TV in an 18-month period, says acting communications DG Norman Munzhelele. He says "we really need to move" on migration to free up spectrum to boost broadband penetration.

However, SA has yet to set a date for the official turn on of digital TV. Munzhelele says this will be announced after consultation with stakeholders because government wants to make sure it has its "ducks in a row" so that it does not miss another deadline.

Although government is seeking to move ahead with migration as quickly as possible, analysts have expressed concern that etv's court bid could again stall the process. Etv argues in court papers that government's Broadcasting Digital Migration policy around set-top box - or decoder - controls is contradictory as it simultaneously empowers and disempowers broadcasters.

Munzhelele cannot yet comment on etv's bid as he notes the court has yet to provide the department with etv's papers, which were filed last Tuesday. The matter is set to be heard on 26 May.

Meanwhile, the Universal Service and Access Agency of SA is set to soon start placing orders for decoders with the 27 bidders it has awarded a deal to. The tender, to produce free set-top boxes for at least five million needy homes, could eventually be worth as much as R8 billion.

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