Communications briefs Parliament on implementation progress of Broadcasting Digital Migration project, 15 Sept

Ministry of Communications to brief the joint meeting of Portfolio Committees on the implementation progress of the Broadcasting Digital Migration project

The Broadcasting Digital Migration Project is well on track, with more than 30 000 indigent households in the Northern Cape, Free State, Mpumalanga and Limpopo having registered with the South African Post Office to receive set-top-boxes (STBs). In October the Ministry will announce a switch-off date in towns located near the Square Kilometre Array (SKA) in the Northern Cape, where registration and installation has almost reached 99 percent.

To date the focal point for registration and installation of STB’s has been in the borderline provinces, where television signal interference from neighbouring countries was greatest. The Ministry of Communications will on Thursday, 15th of September 2016, brief the joint meeting of the Portfolio Committee on Communications, Telecommunications and Postal Service on progress made in the implementation of the Broadcast Digital Migration policy.

“We are happy with the progress of this project despite its funding challenges. It was handed over to the Ministry of Communications on the 30th of January 2015, and three months later, on 18th of March 2015, the Policy was gazetted. The first South Africa citizen received a subsidised set-top-box in Keimos on 17th December 2015. All this happened within a12 month period,” said Muthambi. We now have thousands of households who have benefited from government subsidised set-top-boxes, she added.

The Ministry of Communications has also embarked on a door-to-door registration awareness programme, specifically aimed at senior citizens and people with disabilities as well as those families who, for credible reasons, are unable to go to their nearest Post Office for registration. “We have to be creative on how we reach out to communities. Our goal is to ensure that we get as many households as possible to sign up for the set-top-boxes,” added Muthambi.

Enquiries:
Mish Molakeng
Cell: 082 469 3997             

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