Communications minister Siphiwe Nyanda has urged the industry to work together to develop a set-top box manufacturing sector.
Nyanda was addressing industry representatives at a two-day summit on developing a sector to manufacture the decoders that will be required when SA switches from analogue to digital signal in November 2011.
The summit is being held today and tomorrow in Midrand, where the minister opened the workshop organised by the Department of Communications to bring current and prospective manufacturers together to discuss government's strategy.
Government aims to develop a manufacturing sector that will bolster electronics capacity in SA, and aid emerging companies to grow in the ICT arena. It is currently finalising the manufacturing strategy.
“The set-top box or digital decoder manufacturing strategy to be discussed by this summit in the next two days will form the cornerstone for sustainable growth in the ICT sector, and introduce new and emerging players who have been struggling to make a breakthrough,” said the minister.
SA is “only one of a few to set itself deadlines to fully migrate its terrestrial television broadcasting into a full digital platform before the 2015 global deadline”, he noted.
“To achieve our deadline of switching off the analogue signal by November 2011... we collectively, have a challenge to ensure that our country meets this deadline.”
SA is in the middle of a three-year dual-illumination period, during which both broadcast formats are used before the switchover. Production of set-top boxes is vital as about nine million households will require the decoders in order to receive the digital signal.
Government has set aside close to R2.5 billion to subsidise boxes for the poorest households.
“We, of course, collectively again, have a responsibility of ensuring that as we move the country to a brand new world of broadcasting, we take along the entire population with us. It would be counter-productive for us, the role-players, to bring into the country all these modern, state-of-the-art technologies, but fail to prepare the nation,” Nyanda pointed out.
He called on the industry to aid government in ensuring the migration process plays a critical role in skills development, job creation and the transformation of the ICT industry.
“The process must serve as a catalyst in efforts to meet our objectives to skill the youth and women of our country, and prepare them as agents of change in their communities, particularly those in the rural areas and with limited exposure to opportunities.”
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