The delayed start and slow process of Africa’s move to digital terrestrial television (DTT) could see many countries only complete their digital migration by 2020, Informa Telecoms and Media Group senior research analyst Thecla Mbongue said on Monday.

Speaking at the Digital TV conference, in Bryanston, she said that the switchover from analogue television (TV) to DTT was, in general, a lengthy process that was weighed down by heavy bureaucracy and set-top box (STB) uncertainty.

While many African countries had “advanced” their digital television ambitions, it was expected that Africa’s switchover would remain under major regulatory development for the next five years, despite an International Telecommunications Union-agreed analogue switch-off date of 2015.

Further, uncertainty surrounding the STB subsidies and affordability needed to be dealt with. The uncertainty surrounding the manufacture of the decoders and conditional access control, particularly for South Africa, was also highlighted by many delegates at the conference.

South Africa aimed to complete its digital migration by mid-2015 after several delays; however, the Department of Communications and several stakeholders, including State-owned broadcaster, the South African Broadcasting Corporation, had yet to agree on conditional access control of the subsidised STBs, and the tender for the manufacture of the decoders had yet to be awarded.

BENEFITS FOR AFRICA

Nevertheless, despite Africa’s slow migration, significant opportunities for Africa had emerged – whether the migration was completed or not – she commented.

While international broadcasters still had a strong share of Africa’s content market, an increased focus was turning to local players producing local content relevant to the individual countries.

She noted that, with the increasing number of TV viewers on the continent, the potential and need for new, relevant content for African consumers was growing.

Local soap operas and TV programmes in local languages were becoming the fastest-growing content demand and, with increased mobile TV interest, much of this African content was reaching international shores.

However, despite significant potential to drive growth in the TV market, as only 25% of 190-million households in sub-Saharan Africa had TVs, the continent would not see a “big soar” in the short term, owing to affordability and access challenges.

South Africa currently had a TV penetration of about 76%, or almost eight-million households – 58% of which were pay TV subscribers, generating revenue of about $1.9-billion, she commented.

Nigeria held the largest market penetration in terms of the number of households with access to TVs, which was 10.7-million, or 49%. However, only 17% of those had pay TV subscriptions.

Kenya only had a 28%, or 2.8-million, TV penetration rate, of which 11% were pay TV subscriptions.

This presented an opportunity for mobile operators to drive online and mobile access to TV through broadband-enabled low-cost smartphones.

Mbongue said forecasts had indicated that, owing to affordability and access, millions of Africans would have their first video experience through broadband-enabled phones, as opposed to TVs or computers.

Mobile TV was increasingly becoming available throughout Africa as operators deployed or expanded third-generation networks.