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
As the DoC moves to clarify the definition of the control system approved by Cabinet for the STBs required to intercept the digital broadcasting frequencies when South Africa completes its digital migration, Communications Minister Faith Muthambi has confirmed the country will miss the June 17 deadline to switch to digital broadcasting transmission. The extensive industry disagreements over the STB control systems has been to blame for the latest delays in a project that is already six years overdue.

This follows an announcement by government, after approving the Broadcasting Digital Migration Amendment Policy, that it planned to adopt a control system for the 100%-subsided STBs that it will provide for five-million of South Africa’s poorest households.

The DoC believes that the provision of a definition of the STB control system in the final policy will assist in clarifying the use of the control system for the STBs.

Muthambi has assured that the control system to be included in the decoders will not control the access that viewers have to content, function as a conditional access system or enable signal encryption.

It will, however, work as a security feature to encourage local electronic manufacturing, with minimal switching security features to protect the subsidised STBs from theft or use in other countries; and enable the provision of government information and services.

“The new policy position does not in any way prohibit any broadcaster who wants to include conditional access in the provision of broadcasting services for its customers. It is the firm view of the department that broadcasters who want to do that should make their own investment in the acquisition of a conditional access system,” Muthambi notes.
Key Contracts and Suppliers
None stated.

On Budget and on Time?
The project is six 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 a 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.

Former Communications Minister Yunus Carrim pointed out that the scrapping of the control system resulted in a further 36-week delay – and not the six-month delay as was initially thought – as the South African Bureau of Standards needed 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.