SA will be ready to meet the 1 November deadline to switch on digital services, says the Department of Communications (DOC).
This is in response to concerns that not enough work has been done to get the country ready to migrate from analogue to digital terrestrial broadcasting services.
The department says in a media statement that it is committed to president Thabo Mbeki's State of the Nation announcement that digital broadcasting is to be provided to 50% of SA's households by the end of 2008, growing to 80% of households by 2010.
"No South African households will be without a television broadcast signal on 1 November 2008. All South African households will be able to receive their television signal until November 2011 when the analogue signal is switched off. By that time, all households should be enabled to receive a digital signal," the DOC says in a media statement.
SA is migrating from analogue to digital terrestrial services, and has imposed a deadline of November 2011, a shorter time frame than the 2015 global deadline set by the International Telecommunications Union.
A key concern raised by broadcasters at the Digital Switchover Forum, held in Sandton recently, was that the DOC has not yet gazetted a policy directive that will guide the process.
"The reality is that, until such time as we have clarity on the policy provisions that will govern the digital environment, technical specifications, multiplex arrangements, channel allocations and funding, very few stakeholders will be willing to take any strategic decisions," said National Association of Broadcasters of SA executive director Johann Koster.
Hard at work
This week, the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Communications (PPCC) berated the DOC over SA's state of digital migration readiness, as Parliament members believed little had been done to prepare for the switchover.
The DOC is working with the Department of Trade and Industry, National Treasury and the set-top boxes manufacturing industry as part of the country's Industrial Policy Framework, which prioritises the advancement of local manufacturers, the DOC says in a media statement.
DOC director for policy and regulatory impact assessment Themba Phiri also told the PPCC this week that the policy on digital terrestrial TV migration should be gazetted some time next week.
The DOC is also working to develop a framework for the subsidy of set-top boxes for the poor, he said.
The department says it will soon start a public awareness campaign to inform and educate the general public about the broadcasting digital migration process.
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