Name and Location
Digital broadcasting migration project, South Africa.

Client
The Department of Communications (DoC) and Sentech.

Project Description
Digital terrestrial television (DTT) is the implementation of digital technology to provide more channels and/or better picture quality and sound using a conventional television antenna or aerial, instead of a satellite dish or cable connection.

In 2005, State-owned enterprise Sentech announced its plans to roll out DTT using digital video broadcasting terrestrial (DVB-T) technology, in time for the 2010 FIFA World Cup.

Initially, there will be two DVB-T transmitters for each location or site.

The first phase of the project involves upgrading the Sentech broadcast network and duplicating the current analogue network channels on a digital system.

Most of the 220 sites needed to broadcast DTT to 92% of South Africa's population are in place, but have to be upgraded to become fully digital. Once that process has been completed, DTT and analogue systems will run simultaneously (a dual-illumination process) until South Africa is ready to switch off analogue transmission. This decision will be made by government.

Consumers will require a set-top box (STB) to decode the signal, even for public broadcasting and free-to-air channels. The STBs are expected to be subsidised.

Once the migration to DTT is complete, the country will no longer have exclusive use of the frequencies.

Value
The upgrade is expected to cost R1-billion.

Supplying the STBs will cost an estimated R2.45-billion.

Duration
According to an agreement with the International Telecommunications Union (ITU), the country has until 2015 to complete the migration.

Latest Developments
South Africa’s Northern Cape will become the first province to transition from analogue to digital broadcasting as the DoC progresse to implement the final stages of the years-overdue digital terrestrial television project.

In a phased approach over the next 36 months, starting within the final quarter of this year, the analogue frequencies will be switched off province by province as the subsidised STBs are deployed and the much anticipated Analogue Switch Off (ASO) programme starts.

By March 2016, the Universal Service and Access Agency of South Africa (Usaasa) hopes to have transitioned about 240 000 more television- (TV-) owning households, in  the signal-interference-prone Northern Cape, onto the digital broadcasting platform, with more than 120 000 poor TV-owning households in the region equipped with a subsidised STB.

This will follow the deployment, by December 2015, of more than 7 000 subsidised STBs to the “priority” Square Kilometre Array region, also in the Northern Cape, which will mostly use direct-to-home satellite broadcasting, as opposed to the terrestrial infrastructure.

The DoC had initially aimed to subsidise about five-million of the decoders required to intercept the digital broadcasting frequencies; however, information emerging from Usaasa’s presentation to the portfolio committees on Communications and Telecommunications and Postal Services has indicated that this will extend to an estimated six-million of South Africa’s 12.8-million TV-owning households.

By June 2016, the DoC aims to complete the migration and deliver subsidised STBs for South African TV-owning households positioned along the borders of Mozambique, Swaziland, Zimbabwe, Namibia, Botswana and Lesotho, which are also sensitive to neighbouring frequency disruptions. This phase will include South Africa’s Limpopo province.

Overall, the DoC expects to complete the ASO programme in South Africa’s Mpumalanga province in the fourth quarter of next year, with subsidised STBs installed in more than half of the 908 000 TV-owning households in the province.

During 2017, the DoC will shift the focus of the ASO programme to South Africa’s North West, Free State and Eastern Cape provinces, deploying 477 000, 414 000 and 712 000 subsidised decoders respectively.

By the third year, focus will shift to South Africa’s KwaZulu-Natal and the Western Cape provinces, with one-million and 610 000 of the respective 1.9-million and 1.5-million TV-owning households in the provinces equipped with a subsidised STB.

Gauteng will be the last province to have its analogue frequencies switched off, with the DoC allocating an estimated 1.5-million subsidised STBs to TV-owning households in South Africa’s most populous province.

The aim of the province-by-province staggered approach is to “draw on the lessons” of every deployment, starting with the smaller and less complex provinces, limit any potential negative impacts and interruptions to one province at a time, and allow for the concentration of human and financial resources to be narrowed to each province to enable a smooth and manageable transition.

The first STB orders are expected to be placed in August, as the South African Post Office (Sapo), which is tasked with dispensing the decoders, trains its staff, finalises its logistical and distribution plans and negotiates the R771-million funding shortfall for the R917-million decoder distribution project.

Sapo will, however, start the roll-out, despite only having R146-million in funds approved by the National Treasury, until the funds are depleted or the R771-million balance is secured.

Key Contracts and Suppliers
None stated.

On Budget and on Time?
South Africa officially missed a key international digital migration deadline  on June 17.

Contact Details for Project Information
DoC media liaison officer Siya Qoza, tel +27 12 427 8511.
Sentech, tel +27 11 691 7000.