DOC announces 18-month plan for digital migration

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29 April 2015 News

The Minister of the Department of Communications (DOC), Faith Muthambi, provided an update on the status of South Africa’s migration toward digital terrestrial television (DTT) broadcasting while addressing a gathering of local and foreign delegates at a recently convened workshop.

Having established a dedicated DTT project management office which she says is hard at work behind the scenes, Muthambi revealed that an 18-month programme has been put together and an implementation plan completed. ICASA now has DTT regulations in place and SABS standards (designation DTT SANS 862 DVB-T2) have been approved, while technical specifications for the set-top box control system are currently in 'an advanced stage' of development. As for Sentech, it has completed 84% geographic coverage (with the remaining 16% to be covered by satellite) with all 178 transmitters in place and head ends configured.

She informed that talks are underway with neighbouring states in order to manage issues related to interference after the ITU’s 17 June 2015 deadline, while closer to home a 'massive communication programme' has been launched to raise South African citizens’ awareness concerning digital migration.

DTT experts from abroad, most notably Australia, the UK and Norway, also related their experiences and challenges to the workshop, and Muthambi expressed her thanks for their input. “It is often easier to tread a path that others have already followed,” she said. “I am therefore happy that delegates shared with us the challenges that they faced in their own countries during the process of implementation. This knowledge and these shared experiences will enable us to better prepare ourselves during the rolling out of digital migration.”

Summing up the current status of the project, Muthambi stated: “We continue to engage with all the stakeholders involved in this process in order to encourage them to play their respective role in implementing broadcasting digital migration. As a country we can proudly say that we are on track with the implementation of the DTT programme.”

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DOC announces 18-month plan for digital migration

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