Page 43 - EngineerIT December 2021

INDUSTRY, TECHNOLOGY, PRODUCTS and INNOVATION you want to read about

The big analogue TV switch off has started,

ten years after the initial deadline

igration from analogue to digital terrestrial television is on track”, the
minister of communications and digital technology said at a media briefing
“Mon 24 November 2021.
Minister Khumbudo Ntshavheni said that a total of 572 255 beneficiary households which
qualified for subsidised set-top boxes have been migrated from the current total of 1 228 879.
In 2006, the South African government accepted the International Telecommunications
Union (ITU) agreement that called for countries to migrate from analogue to digital
television by June 2015.The purpose of the mandate known as the digital terrestrial
television (DTT) process was to improve the quality of TV services and maximise the efficient
use of the spectrum. The South African government initially set the deadline to complete
the migration process by 2011, however, this never happened as the programme suffered Minister Khumbudo Ntshavheni
setback after setback.
During the 2021 State of the Nation address, President Cyril Ramaphosa said: “The a foundation for new innovative products
completion of digital migration is vital to our ability to effectively harness the enormous as the world, including South Africa, shifts
opportunities presented by technological change.” He said something similar in the previous into digital economies. “As a department
two State of the Nation addresses but it required two new ministers to make it happen. responsible for the Information and
To realise the target in the pronouncement to switch off analogue television transmitters Communication Technology (ICT) sector,
by the end of March 2022, after years of delays and missed targets, the department has we are required to spearhead the
announced a cabinet-approved revised plan to accelerate digital migration. transformation of not only the sector
The revised plan is a shift from a staggered provincial approach to a consolidated national but the entire South African economy for
approach with switch-offs happening simultaneously in all nine provinces of South Africa, the digital future. The broadcast digital
with different completion and migration dates. migration allows the country to access
Analogue TV switch-off began in 2016 in the Northern Cape where 15 transmitters were the digital dividend as part of our journey
switched off in the area of the Square Kilometre Array (SKA) in compliance with the radio- towards a digital economy”.
quiet restrictions of the international radio telescope research project. The big question however is, will it take
On Friday 26 November 2021, the Minister officially switched off the last transmitter in another turn in court? eTV, the company
the Northern Cape at Upington to mark the successful digital migration of the province, which that has interdicted the digital migration
is the second one after the switch-off of the Free State in October 2021. process many times in the past, is now
At a media briefing the minister explained that the broadcast digital migration falls saying that a total switch off in March 2022
within the broader digital transformation objectives of creating new possibilities and laying is unrealistic.

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