The Broadcast Digital Migration is almost complete and a new analogue switch-off date, and end of dual illumination period, has been set for 31 March 2023.
In making the announcement of her intention to switch off the analogue signal on that date, Minister of Communications and Digital Technologies Khumbudzo Ntshavheni has invited industry and affected parties to make substantive representations either in support or opposition.
She reports that a total of 61 155 new registered households were recorded between April and July 2022, which translated to an average of 15 288 registrations per month. The number of new applications and registrations for August and September 2022 totalled 140 674, or 33 638 per month – “and not the claimed millions that were supposedly going to be left behind,” Ntshaveni says.
In June 2022, the Constitutional Court rules that the Minister must notify members of the public about the planned analogue switch-off and inform them about a need to register for STBs with a sense of urgency. Given the decline in applications for STBs between April and June 2022, 30 September 2022 was determined as a closing date for applications or registration for STB assistance.
This was gazette and a multipronged awareness programme implemented, including promotions on television, radio, social media, media briefings, collaboration with the House of Traditional and Khoisan Leaders and the South African Local Government Authority (SALGA), as well as physical community engagement meetings.
Ntshaveni says that, as of 30 November 2022, there are 185 382 outstanding installations to complete, including all STB registration up to 30 September 2022, implying a timeframe of three months to complete them.
“Analogue switch-off must be concluded without further delay in order to enable the telecommunication network operators to decongest the networks with the deployment of 4G and 5G networks,” she says. “The quality of connectivity is degrading across the country and some areas have completely lost network coverage pushing for a speedy conclusion of digital migration to allow speedy 4G and 5G deployment.
“We have already started receiving reports of cross interference between Broadcasting and IMT services, something we did not want to occur at all. In this regard, it is important to emphasise that the broadcasters are no longer protected in those frequencies as the protection fell on in June 2015.”