Communications and Digital Technologies Minister Khumbudzo Ntshavheni has assured that progress is being made in completing South Africa’s long-delayed Broadcasting Digital Migration (BDM) programme.

Following the deferment by the High Court Gauteng Division of the analogue switch-off date from March 31 to June 30, the Department of Communications and Digital Technologies accelerated the programme to get the 507 251 households that had registered for subsidised set-top boxes (STBs) by October 31, 2021, connected by no later than June 30.

“The new date coincides with the date the Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (Icasa) had determined and announced as the end of the transition period for the broadcasting services and signal distributors to vacate the 800 MHz and 700 MHz bands,” she said.

In March, Icasa resolved that April 1 to June 30 will constitute a transitional period for broadcasting service licensees and signal distributors to ensure a seamless transition process for the switch-off of the remaining analogue transmitters.

The 700 MHz and 800 MHz radio frequency bands were also part of the radio frequency spectrum bands successfully auctioned by Icasa in March.

During a press briefing on April 28, Ntshavheni commented that 258 821 of the 507 251 STBs set aside for beneficiary households that had registered timeously had been distributed. Of these, 109 000 have been activated or installed as at April 25.

In Gauteng, the STB distribution for those registered households have been completed, with the Northern Cape to follow by the end of April.

“We are on course for completing the remaining installations in the months of May and June across the provinces,” she assured.

However, there are over 6 000 registered households that could not be found at their registered addresses, with numbers either going unanswered or contact details not provided.

The department assured that the 260 868 households that registered between October 31 and March 10 will be connected to their STBs by no later than September 30.