South Africa will complete its digital migration project by 2022 at the earliest, the acting government director-general with operational oversight of the project said in an exclusive interview with TechCentral.
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Even when South Africa has completed the switch-off of analogue television broadcasting signals as part of the long-delayed broadcasting digital migration project, the spectrum may still not be available for broadband operators.
State-owned companies Sentech and Broadband Infraco will be merged to create a new state infrastructure company, communications minister Stella Ndabeni-Abrahams said on Thursday.
The company, used the AfricaCom conference currently take place in Cape Town to announce the new offering, called Sentech Connect, which is aimed at government users.
In a potentially serious blow to state-owned broadcasting signal distributor Sentech, the SABC has said it wants to make much more extensive use of direct-to-home satellite technology for digital broadcasting.
Setumo Mohapi, the well-respected CEO of the State IT Agency, who engineered a major clean-up and turnaround at the troubled agency after taking the reins in 2015, has resigned.
A process called “digital restacking” could take up to two years to complete, delaying the allocation of prime radio frequency spectrum to telecommunications operators to 2022.
Communications minister Nomvula Mokonyane said government has set July 2020 as the firm and final deadline by which time analogue terrestrial television broadcasts must be switched off.
Government will give vouchers to indigent households to buy set-top boxes from commercial providers rather than continuing with a plan to run the project itself.