The next phase of SA's digital migration process will take place in the Free State province early next month, according to the Department of Communications (DOC).
This follows the installation of the first government subsidised set-top boxes (STBs) in the Northern Cape in December. The STBs transmit the digital signal to households with analogue televisions.
DOC spokesperson Mishack Molakeng told ITWeb that the Free State province is next on the agenda.
"As per the Digital Switch-On (DSO) and Analogue Switch-Off (ASO) plan, the next province on the agenda is the Free State. Registration for the government subsidised set-top boxes in the Free State province started last December," he says.
"The installation phase for STBs in the Free State is earmarked to commence in February 2016," says Molakeng.
SA missed the 17 June 2015 deadline set by the International Telecommunications Union for all countries to migrate to digital television.
However, in December 2015, the DOC deployed the first batch of STBs for digital migration in the communities of Keimoes and Kakamas in the Northern Cape.
The DOC has prioritised SA's border-lying areas and the Square Kilometre Array (SKA) area to be the first to receive STBs and migrate to digital television.
Government has promised to subsidise five million poor TV-owning households with free STBs for the digital migration process.
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