South Africa’s digital television migration project has once again come unstuck. Is it time to give up on the project altogether? By Duncan McLeod.
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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.
Communications minister Stella Ndabeni-Abrahams has appointed Basil Ford as administrator of Usaasa, the government agency charged with bridging the digital divide in South Africa.
Stella Ndabeni-Abrahams has withdrawn the appointment of Newyear Ntuli as administrator of Usaasa, the government agency responsible for bridging the digital divide in South Africa, just seven days after she announced it.
The State IT Agency and Usaasa are to be run by administrators while they are restructured and their mandates reconfigured.
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.
Usaasa will complete the distribution of all manufactured set-top boxes, satellite dishes and aerials but not be involved in procuring any further devices for South Africa’s digital television migration project.
The department of communications is expected to provide more information next week about its decision to pull the plug on buying more set-top boxes for South Africa’s digital migration project.
The axed former chairman of government’s universal service agency, Usaasa, will not back down despite a legal setback this week and has vowed to continue with a court challenge against the telecoms minister and the public protector.
Fired members of the board of government’s universal service agency, who went to court earlier this month on an urgent basis to stop the implementation of a report by the public protector, have lost their legal challenge.