The date for television’s analogue switch-off date has been deferred from 31 March to 20 June by the High Court.
Khumbudzo Ntshavheni, minister of communications and digital technologies, has urged e-TV – which brought the challenge to the switch-off – to desist from further attempts to derail the process of digital migration which will release the much-anticipated high frequency spectrum.
She adds that the deferment will give government time to complete installations of set top boxes (STBs) for registered households before the analogue switch off.
The department has committed to ensuring that the 507 251 households that registered by the 31 October 2021 are connected by no later than 30 June 2022, and that the 260 868
households that registered between 31 October 2021 and 10 March 2022 are connected to their STBs by no later than 30 September 2022.
The 30 June 2022 date coincides with the date ICASA had determined and announced as the end of transition period for the broadcasting services and signal distributors to vacate the 800MHz – 700MHz band.