Yet another delay to digital television migration has this time had a spillover effect: pushing "broadband for all" out of reach, because much-needed spectrum is now not likely to be freed up until March 2014.
The Department of Communications (DOC) has sent a letter to set-top box suppliers pushing out the award of the tender for subsidised boxes - which take six months to make and are needed for turn on - to mid-September.
As a result, the three years it will take to migrate means that much-needed space in the 800MHz frequency range, needed to roll out long-term evolution (LTE) in more rural areas, will not be freed up before around March 2017. In addition, SA's largest mobile operator, Vodacom, says it will take three years to build out the rest of SA, taking network completion to March 2020 if everything runs smoothly.
Pushing out
The DOC's letter asks suppliers to, for the fourth time, extend the validity of bids until 13 September, saying there is a possibility that the deal may not be adjudicated before then.
Altech UEC MD Rodger Warren says the department is expected to adjudicate bids on 13 September. He says, as the department has removed the requirement for conditional access, boxes can be ready about six months after the order.
However, Warren notes that some companies may have taken on some risk and geared up to build boxes with the control chip in a bid to be ready for when the order was placed, and have lost out in the process.
Some 36 companies responded to the DOC's invite to bid to make the subsidised boxes, but the tender, meant to be issued in October, has yet to be awarded because of the conditional access hold-up. The controls are meant to help protect the local sector by stopping grey imports, among other things.
Last Thursday, communications minister Dina Pule said she would soon release a revised draft broadband digital migration policy dealing with the set-top box controls, inviting stakeholders to make their input on the areas being revised. "All stakeholders will be given an opportunity to make input on the changes as per the minister's pronouncement during the budget vote."
However, this morning, the DOC issued an erratum through advertisements in major papers, saying the issue of controls had been dropped from the tender.
In her recent budget speech, Pule said the department would review set-top box controls to make this non-mandatory, fast-tracking the process of switching on digital television. The contentious issue of conditional access has held up migration after broadcaster etv took the minister to court to have a May 2012 decision to let Sentech handle the issue set aside.
Etv won its bid, but the department then wanted to appeal the ruling, deciding only in February - after discussions with broadcasters - to withdraw its appeal. As of about a month ago, the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) and etv were trying to sort out controls, but Pule had lost patience.
Pule also said that the New Broadband Policy will go to Cabinet this month, allowing the Independent Communications Authority of SA (ICASA) to license the "much sought after 2.6GHz and 800MHz spectrum, including the extended digital dividend". However, dates as to when this spectrum will be released are yet to be announced.
Although Pule aims to fast-track digital television process, no new launch date has been announced. She said, in her speech, "I will shortly be releasing a notice in the Government Gazette setting the performance period for digital migration switch on."
The department says launch will happen in the second half of this year, but its spokesperson, Siya Qoza, was not aware of the extension of the tender, and did not revert with comment after being provided with a copy of the letter on Friday morning.
Cabinet has approved a scheme of ownership, which will see the state subsidise 70% of the cost of a box for five million poor households. The tender was delayed after a court tussle over conditional access.
Gearing to go
Vodacom CEO Shameel Joosub says, if mobile operators got space in 800MHz tomorrow, broadband for all could be delivered in 2020. Speaking to ITWeb, he said, globally, LTE is being rolled out in 800MHz and 2.6GHz and Vodacom will have made all its towers LTE-ready by March next year.
"My concern is that we haven't started... The missing ingredient is spectrum."
DOC spokesman Wisani Ngobeni has said there is no timeline on licensing space, and that 800MHz has to wait for migration. He adds that the department has to do things correctly and cannot act in haste, while also having to include new players.
The incumbents have argued that spectrum should go to companies that are already active, as they have the financial and technical means to make best use of more capacity, and current space is becoming constrained.
Vodacom is comfortable investing R7 billion in its network in SA every year and, in the past five years, has spent R28 billion on infrastructure, the bulk of which has gone towards improving the speed of its network, says Joosub.
MTN looks "forward to participating in the long-awaited licensing process for 2.6 GHz frequency that is needed by operators to ensure the 2020 vision is realised".
Richard Hurst, Ovum analyst, notes that there will be at least three years of dual-illumination, and that SA has to move off analogue by 2017 to meet its broadband-for-all target.
In addition, says Hurst, SA's 2020 target was ambitious in the first place, but with too many chefs with spoons, "we won't make it". He adds that government should enable business, which would then contribute towards meeting both goals.
Ngobeni has said the department is confident it will meet the international analogue shut-off date of mid-2015. However, Themba Phiri, DOC's deputy DG of ICT policy development, has said: "It follows that if we launch in mid-2013 [a previously set deadline], we don't have enough time to migrate because it only gives us two years and our projection is that we need over three years to migrate."
The only aspect that was holding up migration is conditional access, as Sentech has covered 80% of SA, and manufacturers are ready to act on the tender, said Ngobeni.
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