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 through 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 need 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.

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

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, the country has until 2015 to complete the migration, after which it will no longer have exclusive use of the frequencies.

Latest Developments
Cabinet’s decision to opt for the nonmandatory use of a control system in the STBs not subsidised by government has been welcomed by industry, as this indicates some movement toward the country’s digital broadcasting ambitions.

Communications Minister Yunus Carrim, however, has pointed out that the actual technical definition – including the type and nature; the supplier, vendor and operator of the control system; and the operations of the system – will be decided by the free-to-air broadcasters opting to use the control system, which can only be done once the final amendments to the Digital Migration Policy have been published.

Further, the suggested target date for switching on South Africa’s digital television signal in the proposed amendments to the Broadcasting Digital Migration Policy are not likely to be met, the South African Communications Forum (SACF) has said.

The DoC’s gazette notice in December of the proposed policy amendments outlined a switch-on date of April 1 to start the nation’s long-awaited move from analogue broadcasting to DTT.

However, the ability to meet this deadline depends on orders for the subsidised STB’s having been placed by January 15, factoring in the three-month lead time for manufacturers to order the components and start production.

Government aims to subsidise 70% of the cost of the STBs for about five-million households that are unable to afford the decoders.

The local manufacturers, of which SACF represents six, including Altech UEC, Divitech and ABT, have spent the past few years sourcing international experts, enabling skills transfer and establishing local operations to prepare for the roll-out.

The manufacturers, which have borne a collective financial loss of more than R50-million on the back of the five-year delay and are operating at less than 40% capacity, have indicated to SACF that they are ready for production and will “do their best” to support government’s tight timeframe, but the long-standing and now lapsed STB request for proposal, which was issued in August 2012, has not yet been reissued.

The new tender for subsidised STBs will only be issued following the conclusion of the final migration policy, which only closed for comments at the start of January, explains SACF executive director Loren Braithwaite-Kabosha.

This will leave the DoC with only a month to issue and review responses to the tender to be able to place the first order by April 1, with likely distribution of the first batch in June.

Key Contracts and Suppliers
None stated.

On Budget and on Time?
South Africa has until 2015 to complete the migration, after which it will no longer have exclusive use of the frequencies.

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