Communications minister Roy Padayachie will “soon” announce Cabinet's decision on the standard SA will use to move to digital television.
Padayachie is wrapping up consultations with “relevant stakeholders” around government's decision, according to a statement released by the department.
Media reports have indicated SA would endorse a decision made in November last year by the Southern African Development Community (SADC) to use the DVB-T2 standard. The minister was initially expected to make an announcement in the middle of last month.
However, the National Association of Manufacturers in Electronics Components (Namec) has approached the minister with a view to re-opening the debate.
The organisation wants government to re-examine the possibility of using the Brazilian upgrade to the Japanese ISDB-T standard as it believes this would aid SA's economic growth.
Chairman Keith Thabo said this week Namec would submit a proposal to Padayachie outlining its standpoint.
In December last year, Cabinet met and discussed the issue. According to government spokesman Themba Maseko, the issue was left in Padayachie's hands. Maseko indicated at the time that an announcement would be made in the “next few days”.
SA began the process of migrating away from analogue signal almost six years ago, when Cabinet decided to use the European DVB-T standard. The move stalled last April when the Department of Communications implemented a review of the standard and investigated the use of ISDB-T, sparking a furore among the industry, which had been gearing up for transition.
SADC countries have set a November 2013 deadline to move off analogue signal, while internationally, protection for the bandwidth falls away in 2015.
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