Since the Department of Communications (DOC) ushered in new leadership, there has been little mention of how the ministry plans to fast-track the Broadcasting Digital Migration (BDM) project ahead of the June 2019 deadline.
Government has identified the BDM project, facilitated by the DOC, as a top priority to help improve the lives of South African citizens.
Mobile operators are also eager to see the full implementation of the project, as this will unlock the necessary spectrum they have long been calling for. When the country switches from analogue to digital terrestrial television (DTT), it will also make radio frequency spectrum available, which is currently occupied by analogue services for other broadband and broadcasting services.
While expectations were high that new communications minister Nomvula Mokonyane would take the bull by the horns concerning the top-priority project, communication on how her department plans to ensure digital migration moves ahead has been left wanting.
Unlike her predecessors, who were quick to voice their plans for the country's digital migration process, even going as far as establishing a DTT "war room", Mokonyane has remained mum on the matter.
Painfully slow
South Africa's digital migration process has been plagued by numerous hurdles over the years, which has seen the project move at a snail's pace. The sluggish approach further creates a domino effect for other projects that require unlocking of analogue services.
Last month, telecoms regulator, the Independent Communications Authority of SA (ICASA), published a discussion document on digital radio. However, the future of digital radio is tied to the country's delayed digital migration process, which is mostly focused on television services.
![Communications minister Nomvula Mokonyane. [Photo source: GCIS]](https://www.itweb.co.za/static/pictures/2018/03/resized/-fs-Nomvula-Mokonyane-1-2018.xl.jpg)
In the discussion document, ICASA said there is a scarcity of FM frequencies, which has led to the authority publishing a moratorium on the licensing of class community sound broadcasting services on the 87.5MHz to 108MHz broadcasting band.
South Africa has been planning for digital migration since 2008 but missed the June 2015 deadline set by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) for countries to complete the full switch from analogue to DTT.
The ITU has called on nations to switch over from analogue to digital broadcasting signal to allow radio frequency spectrum to be freed up for mobile broadband services.
Decoding the challenge
To ensure low-income South African TV-owning households receive the devices required for digital migration, the DOC has been facilitating the registration process for subsidised decoders in border-lying areas.
Government has committed to supply 5.2 million free set-top boxes (STBs) to households that depend on social grants and those with an income of less than R3 200.
Last November, the DOC told ITWeb that it facilitated the installation of over 150 000 STBs out of the 342 000 estimated qualifying households in the Free State.
In the Estimates of National Expenditure document of the 2018 national budget speech, the DOC revealed "it will need a few more years to install government-subsidised STBs". The STBs are essential for the migration process as they are required to convert digital broadcasting signals on analogue TV sets. The decoders allow consumers to receive DTT without having to buy a new digital TV.
Meanwhile, concerns have also been raised that government's plans to only supply low-income households with subsidised STBs threatens a missing middle income group, which faces being left behind the digital TV revolution.
The SOS Coalition believes as many as a million South African households fall into the missing middle group that will be cut off from free TV services.
The DOC has not provided insight into the cost of the STBs, nor has it provided an alternative regarding what to do should households be unable to afford the digital migration decoders.
Instead, the communications ministry has only encouraged "households that fall outside the qualifying criteria to get digitally-enabled TV sets, and migrate".
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