7 August 2006
The process of migrating South Africaâs television broadcast system from
analogue to digital, chaired by the Department of Communications, has gained
momentum. A Digital Migration Working Group has been mandated to produce a
report that will be a roadmap on migrating the country from analogue to digital
broadcasting. The working group is expected to send the report to the Minister
of Communications, Dr Ivy Matsepe-Casaburri in October this year.
It will also indicate how the process will be managed without any
disruptions to the broadcast sector in the country. The working group
comprising Information and Communication Technology (ICT) stakeholders, has a
mandate to adopt and implement an appropriate strategy to migrate the country
from analogue to digital terrestrial broadcasting.
The International Telecommunications Union (ITU) has at its recent
conference set an international deadline of June 2015 for all regions in the
world to have migrated to digital broadcasting.
The working group is currently engaging consultants who were appointed to do
a feasibility study on the economic impact of the digital migration process on
the country as a whole in particular its impact on consumers as well as issues
relating to access to digital broadcasting services by ordinary South
Africans.
A Digital Migration Strategy (DMS), whose key outputs are scheduled for
implementation in the 2008/09 financial year, has a bearing on the
technological advancement of the country. It also has impact on South Africaâs
ability to host a successful Soccer World Cup in 2010.
Migration from analogue to digital will give television viewers better
viewing options as well as releasing significant portion of the spectrum for
other alternative uses that the current analogue system does not provide.
Terrestrial digital broadcasting holds many advantages over the analogue
system:
* expanded services
* higher quality video and audio;
* greater variety and faster rates of data transmission and consistency of data
flows over long distances
* efficient use and allocation of spectrum.
Migration from analogue to digital was set in motion in 2000 when the ITU
started the process towards digital broadcasting. The second Regional Radio
Communications Conference held in Geneva, Switzerland recently, agreed that the
phasing out of analogue broadcasting to digital should have ended by June
2015.
Enquiries:
Albi Modise
Cell: 083 490 2871
Richard Mantu
Cell: 072 488 1520
Issued by: Department of Communications
7 August 2006
Source: Department of Communications (https://www.doc.gov.za)
