African governments should not be critical of the investment in the switchover from analogue to digital broadcasting.
This is according to the director of Broadcasting Policy at the department of communications, Mashilo Boloka, during the Digital Broadcasting Switchover Forum, organised by the Commonwealth Telecommunication's Organisation in Johannesburg last week.
Boloka said digital terrestrial television will have long-term benefits (economic and social) if implementation strategies are home-brewed.
He pointed out that at the moment, the biggest concern when it comes to the migration is the question of whether Africa will meet the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) deadline considering predominance of terrestrial broadcasting infrastructure the vastness and sparse population settlement patterns.
“A lot of work needs to be done,” he pointed out.
He told the conference that incentive schemes seem inevitable for successful migration. “These can be assistance or relief, whether monetary and, or non-monetary, provided to enable the public and operators (broadcasters and signal distributors) to migrate to digital broadcasting services in accordance with a defined policy,” he said.
These incentive schemes can be categorised into general subsidies, help schemes, incentives for incumbent broadcasters, he said.
“With general subsidies, assistance will be given to TV owning households to purchase set-top boxes which are devices that enables a TV set to become a user interface to the Internet and TV,” he explained.
According to Boloka, there is also an option of going the help scheme way, where assistance to vulnerable groups in matters such as access to set-top boxesinstallation and aerial re-tuning replacement.
“There is also an option of incentives for incumbent broadcasters where it can either be monetary and the broadcasters are given transmission subsidies or non-monetary where incentive channels and moratorium on the licensing of new entrants during dual illumination, more capacity on multiplexes,” he pointed out.
However, Boloka says, there are challenges facing implementation of incentive schemes. “There is an ever increasing number of TV-owning households, he pointed out. “This makes it difficult to control the incentive schemes. There are also high administration costs exceeding the actual budget of the scheme,” he told the conference.
Boloka said there are negative sentiments around digital TV migration. “Many African governments view this as way of bankrolling a unnecessary luxurious services like TV at the expense of fundamental services such as health and education.”
He reckons that for Africa, migration to digital broadcasting system is more than just an ITU obligation. He said this migration is about human rights, which entail access to information and services, creating jobs and rebuilding our content industries.
“It also gives people in the continent an opportunity to build capacity for their TV industries... The migration from analogue to digital technologies is a challenge for Africa,” he said.
He pointed out that currently many of the African countries are still in a planning or preparatory phase. “There is a slow progress to date. Five out of 53 countries are on track, 10 countries on pilot stage, 29 countries are doing nothing about the migration and others the status is unknown.”
He said, as an annual event, the Digital Broadcasting Switchover Forum has over the years provided a strategic platform for sharing of information and new lessons on the implementation of digital broadcasting migration on the continent.
“The forum's ability to attract speakers beyond the African continent ensures that information shared is relevant for countries at the various phases of migration.”
The deadline for the global digital switch over set by the ITU is 15 June 2015.
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