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.

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

Latest Developments
The Universal Services and Access Agency of South Africa (Usaasa) has criticised opposition party the Democratic Alliance’s (DA’s) “unfortunate and sensational” claims about the validity of the STBs tender process.

The DA is seeking legal advice after questioning the validity of the now-closed tender for the R4.3-billion contract to supply the government-subsidised STBs needed for South Africa’s long-overdue DTT migration.

Usaasa, which issued the tender in November, contends that its process is legitimate and the agency is transparent, despite shadow Minister of Telecommunications and Postal Services Marian Shinn’s concerns that the process has been rushed – threatening proper processes and evaluation – to meet the looming June 2015 deadline for the switchover from analogue to digital broadcasting.

Usaasa has affirmed that, following a September presentation to the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Telecommunications and Postal Services on the state of readiness for implementation of the digital migration project, the agency resolved to source the services of a four-tier consulting company to evaluate the tender.

Further, in the “interest of time” and to eliminate time-consuming administrative processes, Usaasa called for the quotations for encryption and nonencryption systems pending the finalisation of the Broadcast Digital Migration policy directive.

“Usaasa was mindful . . . that a policy decision had not been concluded, but was concerned about its ability to meet the deadline of June 17, 2015, as set by the International Telecommunications Union,” the agency said in a statement.

Usaasa also dismissed Shinn’s claims of a “low-key” tender process, which, she claimed, could result in many of the companies that would have submitted bids being sidelined.

The tender was advertised in national newspapers, such as the Sunday Times, on the Usaasa and the Government Gazette websites, Uaasa said, noting that an extension was also granted for a bid closing date of December 19 from January 6.

Key Contracts and Suppliers
None stated.

On Budget and on Time?
The project is five-and-a-half-years behind schedule.

There have been several migration delays since South Africa reached an agreement with the ITU in 2006 to migrate from an analogue to a digital signal by mid- 2015.

One of the major stumbling blocks was the dispute about whether the STBs should have control system.

The South African Communications Forum previously told Engineering News Online that delays in South Africa’s transition to digital television had cost the country’s STB manufacturing industry more than R50-million and had stressed that any more delays would lead to further losses.

Communications Minister Yunus Carrim has pointed out that the scrapping of the control system will result in a further 36-week delay – and not the six-month delay as was initially thought – as the SABS will need to rework the STB specifications (SANS 862) to exclude the STB control system.

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