Confusion clouds digital migration

SA's hopes of finally seeing the long-awaited move to digital television being kick-started this year are slowly dissipating, as communications minister Roy Padayachie has yet to provide clarity on key issues that must urgently be resolved.

Industry last year breathed a collective sigh of relief when President Jacob Zuma axed Siphiwe Nyanda, replacing him with Padayachie. The new minister came in with guns blazing, outlining a list of key priorities, merely 11 days into his tenure.

Among Padayachie's promises was that he would announce which digital standard SA would use to migrate to digital television by mid-December, and by the end of the first quarter of this year, the set-top box manufacturing strategy would be wrapped up. The strategy aims to kick-start an entire new electronics sector that can benefit from Africa's move to digital TV.

However, the key standards decision was only announced in the middle of last month, and there is a raft of other issues that Padayachie is only likely to clarify once he presents the department's budget to Parliament, which could push SA's timeline well into the red.

SA is expected to turn on digital television, using the European DVB-T2 standard, in just over a year, in anticipation of turning off analogue broadcast in November 2013. In the meantime, the rest of Africa is overtaking SA, as industry waits for the minister to provide direction.

Digital migration has been plagued by delays since it was first mooted in 2006. Government initially decided to use the European DVB-T standard, and industry started gearing up to take advantage of the opportunity to sell local technology in SA and into Africa.

Migration stalled last year when the Department of Communications decided to investigate the use of the Brazilian upgrade to the Japanese ISDB-T standard. Padayachie announced in mid-January that SA would use DVB-T2, along with most countries in the region.

Yet, since then, very little progress has been made in migration, and several issues still need to be wrapped up before SA can move forward with migration. In addition, there is no overarching body to take control of the day-to-day aspects of migration, and the advisory council, the Digital Dzonga, is on hold pending a review of its usefulness.

Padayachie says the issues surrounding digital terrestrial television will be clarified during his budget speech. No date has been set for the speech yet, but it should be tabled between the second week of March and sometime in April. Last year, the speech was in April. “We want to wait for that speech to thrash out the meat of the issue,” says Padayachie.

National Treasury has set aside about R1.2 billion in the next three years for digital migration, which includes funding for Sentech to roll-out a digital network, and R690 million to subsidise set-top boxes.

However, while funding has been allocated, it is not yet known how many boxes need to be subsidised, what percent of the final decoder will be subsidised, or how this money will reach SA's poor.

Set-top boxes are needed to convert digital signal for viewing on older analogue televisions. Estimates indicate that the country will need about 11 million boxes in total.

“We will implement a subsidy scheme for the indigent and other qualifying beneficiaries to ensure that the digital signal is accessible to all communities, including those in the rural areas,” says Padayachie. He says the department will “communicate further details after consultations with other relevant departments and with Cabinet”.

Bertus Bresler, who heads up Reunert's STB project, points out that industry is waiting on the department for clarity before it can move forward. Government needs to co-ordinate the outstanding aspects as a matter of urgency, he says.

While Bresler is confident the deadline can be met, he notes industry needs clarity by June to make sure boxes are on shelves by April, which is when digital TV will launch commercially.

Peter Balchin, Altech UEC CEO, says the move from analogue to digital broadcasting is a key development in facilitating the dissemination of information and freeing up wireless spectrum. He says industry “requires a strategic plan that will give high priority to assist administrators, regulators, broadcasters and other stakeholders in introducing digital broadcasting”.

Bresler adds industry is concerned about the continuous delays, and a Digital Dzonga project office must urgently be set up within the department to oversee the logistics of going digital.

In the meantime, the Digital Dzonga advisory council is currently “on hold”, pending a review of its work by the minister. Deputy chairman Ruddy Rashama says the minister will decide whether the body is needed at all.

Rashama says the Dzonga has recommended that it carry on in its current form, to save time instead of creating an entire new office, but that a project office also be created inside the department to oversee the day-to-day logistical aspects of migration.

The Dzonga was set up as an advisory council comprising industry representatives, under former minister Siphiwe Nyanda. It was meant to provide the department with expert advice on migration.

Last April, Nyanda dissolved the Dzonga as he was concerned over a possible conflict of interest. A new council was set up last August, but in January this year, chairman Mamokgethi Setati resigned.

Setati quit because she received an “international opportunity” that would “clash with the time needed for the work of the Digital Dzonga”.

Rashama is confident the digital deadline will be met, saying that progress is being made in the department. He says the minister is “sorting out things bit by bit”.

DOC spokesman Tiyani Rikhotso says the advisory council has “neither been suspended nor dissolved”. However, he says, discussions are ongoing around how best the council can assist the department in delivering a successful migration process.

Rikhotso says this is taking place at the same time as other processes, such as wrapping up specifications for the manufacturing of decoders and the subsidy scheme for the boxes, among others.

The department did not provide a timeframe for when these issues would be wrapped up, but Rikhotso says the “migration process is well on track and we continue to work towards meeting the 2013 deadline”.