The Department of Communications and the Digital Dzonga's planned availability of digital decoders by March or April next year will not happen.
Local manufacturers of the set-top boxes, which will be needed for South Africans to view digital TV, say they are concerned that the boxes will not be available by the planned deadline if government does not make a move to approve the manufacturers, and if the Dzonga doesn't appoint the vendor for the security controls soon.
On 1 November 2008, the country officially switched on the digital signal in line with converting its television broadcasting signals from analogue to digital technology. SA is in its three-year window of switching from the obsolete analogue broadcasting system to a new digital format that will allow a greater number of channels and more efficient use of spectrum.
The DOC is partially funding the process due to end by November 2011, and is hoping the roll-out of digital TV and the required set-top boxes will happen as quickly as possible.
However, Craig Venter, CEO of Allied Technologies, whose UEC division has been heavily involved in the development of the set-top box standards and a fresh manufacturing industry in SA, says unless government moves on approving the manufacturers, the deadlines will not be met.
“It will still be okay if we can start to manufacture now, but any later and our dream of seeing decoders in the market by March will not be,” he adds.
To meet dual illumination switch-off deadline in November 2011, manufacturers will have to produce half-a-million boxes per month from January next year. To get a third of the boxes out by April next year, the manufacturers would need to double that pace.
Building for roll-out
Government has overseen the development of a manufacturing industry, releasing its draft manufacturing strategy in June this year. However, no final policy has been published on the matter.
Despite that, the standards for the planned locally developed and manufactured boxes have been approved, and manufacturers are essentially waiting on representatives from SABC and eTV to approve a vendor for security controls.
Local BEE manufacturing business, Arion Bomema Technologies, says there are only a few businesses globally that can develop the security controls required by the standards document. “These controls will prevent the decoder from working outside of SA, to prevent the theft of the boxes,” says Arion Bomema CEO Muzi Makhanye.
The companies responsible for appointing the vendor should have done so at least two months ago, he notes. “Effectively, we have pushed out the March-April deadline by two months. It is more likely you will see the first boxes in May or June next year.”
Arion Bomema is itching to get going on the manufacture, since it has worked hard over the last few years to build a local manufacturing fab and fill it with some of the top international development skills.
According to Makhanye, the company recently upgraded the fab so that there would be no need for new technologies for the next five years.
Software issues
The Digital Dzonga admits the timeframes might have been over ambitious.
Lara Kantor, chair of the Dzonga's advisory council, says: “There are still outstanding matters which could affect when STBs are available. These include software standards, which are to be confirmed by the free-to-air broadcasters and the conformance testing scheme, which the department of communications is driving.”
The council has been tasked to oversee how the process of digital migration is going, and Kantor says it will be submitting its third readiness report to communications minister Siphiwe Nyanda in January next year.
“This report evaluates SA's readiness to undertake a successful DTT migration and makes recommendations on areas where intervention may be required,” she adds.
The department had not responded to ITWeb's query at the time of publication.
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