As the industry waits for the outcome of Cabinet's decision on encryption for set-top boxes, the South African Communications Forum (SACF) has come out in favour of conditional access, arguing it will benefit empowerment.
The SACF has added its voice to the ongoing fray over conditional access, saying encryption will promote "industrial development, job creation, access to information, and black economic empowerment". It says removing the system will add a six- to nine-month delay to rollout because South African Bureau of Standards specifications will have to be reworked.
Excluding controls will also affect the provision of Internet access on the decoders, as the return path will be compromised, it adds. "The strong motivation for the inclusion of the so-called 'return path' for Internet access was for various departments of government to be able to communicate their services and messages to TV households. "
SACF CEO Loren Braithwaite-Kabosha says conditional access is a key way of preventing cheap boxes being dumped in SA, which would negatively affect empowered companies. The SACF says boxes with encryption will not increase the cost, as these are being sold by South African empowered manufacturers in Tanzania for $40.
The SACF represents six set-top box manufacturers in its Industrial Development Working Group, all of which have significant black ownership and collectively invested R50 million in gearing up to make boxes with conditional access. It says encryption is "an important component in supporting a sustainable electronic industry manufacturing base in South Africa".
Braithwaite-Kabosha says empowered companies cannot build a sustainable business model without conditional access as the local market would then be opened up to imports. Digital migration was meant to be the catalyst for SA's flagging electronics sector, and conditional access was initially mooted partially to prevent grey imports of decoders.
The use of the system, over which there has been much controversy, is set to be determined by Cabinet next Wednesday. Conditional access, or set-top box controls, was initially provided for in the Broadcasting Digital Migration policy, which has been amended.
However, it is not yet clear whether the Department of Communications (DOC) has now revoked the need for the encryption mechanism.
Conditional access has been holding up the rollout of digital television for more than a year now, following etv's successful move to block the DOC's decision for Sentech to implement the technology.
The South African Broadcasting Corporation and MultiChoice are opposed to conditional access, while etv wants the system in place to ensure the future of free-to-air broadcasters. The public broadcaster argues free access is the most suitable for it, and MultiChoice says conditional access is a legacy technology.
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