The manufacturing of set-top-boxes (STBs) for poor TV-owning households in the country is underway.
This is word from Digital Terrestrial Television (DTT) programme manager, Dr Fhatuwani Mutuvhi, who says the process is underway following the appointment of manufacturers by the Universal Service and Access Agency of South Africa.
This move comes after the Department of Communications (DOC) announced that households in Nzhelele, Limpopo will be the first to receive free STBs as the area prepares to switch from analogue to a digital television signal.
"The South African Post Office will start with the registration process of poor TV-owning households in the Northern Cape next month and this will be followed by the registration in the border-lying areas across the country including Skelpadnest in Thabazimbi," he says.
SA missed the International Telecommunications Union's 17 June 2015 deadline for all countries to switch from analogue to a digital signal. DOC minister Faith Muthambi previously stated that plans for the country's migration remain on track.
However, the minister has given no indication of when the switch from analogue to digital television will actually occur. "The ministry is ready to consult with Cabinet on the digital signal switch-on date."
Last month, Muthambi and her team told Parliament that DTT will be implemented in the next 18 to 24 months.
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