By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
South Africa is firmly on the path to digital migration, Communications and Digital Technologies Minister Khumbudzo Ntshavheni said during a monthly update on the country’s long-delayed transition from analogue broadcasting to digital terrestrial television under the broadcasting digital migration programme.
The department has completed the analogue switch-off (ASO) in the Free State, with zero transmission black-outs recorded, while the last site in the Northern Cape is on schedule for switch-off by November 26.
The analogue signals in the North West will be switched off in line with the targets of the first week of December, she added.
Sentech has switched off all 84 Multichoice analogue transmission sites, 113 out of 288 SABC analogue transmission sites and four of the 95 eTV analogue transmission sites.
By the end of October, there were 48 453 new registrations of beneficiary households, which are households earning a salary of less than R3 500 that government committed to assisting with installation of set-top boxes to ensure universal migration, bringing the total number of registered households to 1.28-million, with 572 255 of the registered beneficiary households having been migrated.
Over 30 000 new registrations have been recorded so far in November.
The qualifying households who registered before October 31 will be connected before the ASO, while households that had registered after the cut-off date will only be connected within three to four months after the ASO
Ntshavheni says households that don’t qualify for government support need to buy themselves new sets before the migration is completed.
“South African citizens who are still receiving television services directly from an Aerial/Antenna that get mounted on a pole and do not have a set-top box or smart TV set, should find themselves a set-top box or a digital TV to be able to receive digital television.
“Remember that if you are already connected through the DSTV, OVHD, StarSat and Telkom one platform you will not be affected by the analogue switch-off.”
During the 2021 State of the Nation Address, His Excellency President Cyril Ramaphosa announced that South Africa must complete the broadcast digital migration by 31st March 2022. This is the goal date that the Department of Communications and Digital Technologies is working hard to ensure that it is met through the implementation of the Digital Migration Plan that was approved by Cabinet at its meeting of 29 September 2021.