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Johannesburg - Government “must move with the necessary speed” to meet a television digital migration deadline of 15 June 2015, says the ruling African National Congress (ANC).
This is according to a statement from the ANC regarding its first NEC (National Executive Committee) Lekgotla for 2015. Meanwhile, BusinessDay has reported that the ANC's call on digital migration is expected to be implemented by government.
South Africa has missed several of its own deadlines to switchover to digital broadcast, a process that is key to opening up several more television channels and frequencies for mobile networks to provide faster internet broadband.
Debate among broadcasters over whether or not South Africa should adopt set-top box controls has played its part in disrupting the digital migration process. Set-top boxes are needed to decode digital signals for analogue televisions, and government plans to subsidise these devices for poorer households.
And according to the BusinessDay, the ANC has instructed Communications Minister Faith Muthambi to move forward with the lekgotla decision in cabinet.
This could clear the way for digital migration as government is set to finally adopt set-top box controls as part of roll-out plan.
“Information Communication Technologies (ICT), particularly broadband, have the potential to propel our economy to higher levels of growth, opening opportunities for new industries and modernising the delivery of social and economic services,” said the ANC in a statement issued last week.
“Lekgotla has directed the finalisation of the digital migration process to support broadband roll out. Government must move with the necessary speed to meet the deadline of 15 June 2015,” said the ANC.
The International Telecommunications Union (ITU) has set June 15, 2015 as the deadline for the global switchover to digital television.
South Africa is already falling behind its African neighbours such as Namibia and Kenya which have moved to make the switch this year.
Fin24 attempted to reach out to the ANC for clarification of reports saying it has instructed government to move with digital migration, but the political party’s spokespeople were not available at the time of writing.
