At the Commonwealth Telecommunications Organisation (CTO) Digital Broadcasting Switchover Forum in Johannesburg on 30 January, South African Deputy Minister of Communications Radhakrishna Roy Padayachie indicated that his department hopes to formulate a policy regarding subsidies for the set top boxes (STBs) required to decode the digital broadcasting signal within the first quarter of 2008.
With South Africa’s digital broadcasting switch on scheduled for 1 November this year, the DoC is still to publish a formal policy on digital migration as well as the specifications for the STBs. The manufacture of the STBs required for the eight million TV households in South Africa cannot commence until these specifications are published.
“The DoC is fully aware that we need to develop a robust policy and implementation to ensure the digital dream becomes a reality. We face an extremely tight timeline but we must avoid an implementation plan that doesn’t work, such as the current electricity crisis in South Africa. Additionally, we have to ensure there is a vigorous public campaign to educate people about digital terrestrial television (DTT). True universal broadcasting services must not only be accessible but affordable, which is why we are looking into subsidies. We also put out a call to government to craft forward looking policies to encourage general investment. In order to attract foreign investment, we must have local investment first.’
Minister Padayachie spoke about the advantages of DTT, such as more cost effective and efficient use of frequencies. “DTT offers the opportunity for more targeted channels which government might use for developmental imperatives’.
Ideally the government wants, said the Minister, the millions of STBs that will have to be rolled out to be manufactured in South Africa, thereby offering a huge opportunity to expand the local manufacturing industry.
The Minister noted that South Africa was ambitious in setting the time frame for analogue switch off. “We set the date for 1 November 2011, when the deadline for Africa as set by the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) is actually 2015. An enormous amount of time has already been spent by the Digital Migration Working Group (set up in 2005 by Minister Ivy Matsepe-Casaburri), industry stakeholders and government officials on the issue of digital migration.’
Encompassing the African perspective, the Minister made the call to other countries on the continent to work together with South Africa to ensure as smooth a switchover from analogue to digital as possible. “The purchasing and installation of digital transmission equipment is another opportunity for African countries to collaborate.’
See “Digital Migration’ article in February issue of Screen Africa. A report on the CTO Forum will be published in the March edition of Screen Africa.
