Altech has issued a scathing press statement in which it expresses, in no uncertain terms, its view that the delayed announcement by the Department of Communications about which standard will be adopted for digital terrestrial television (DTTV) set-top boxes in South Africa is bad for the country, industry, economy and employment. Altech is a major industry player as a manufacturer of set-top boxes (STBs) by its subsidiary, Altech UEC.
Altech CEO Craig Venter says a change in tack on the standard will set back the process of putting decoders into South African households by three to five years. “Following a cabinet decision, government announced in 2006 that it had decided to adopt the DVB-T standard and the industry has been working towards that end since then, investing more than R700 million. The industry was shocked when the department said in May this year that it was considering a switch to the ISDB-T standard,” says Venter. ISDB-T is deployed only in Japan, Brazil and a few other South American countries, while DVB-T is used in 120 countries.
Venter says a change will set back moves to free up the broadcasting frequency spectrum because digital technology uses less frequency spectrum. “This in turn will impact South Africa’s telecommunication strategy – that of increased competition, affordable bandwidth, greater Internet uptake and hence ICT sector growth which is all linked to increased growth of the economy,” says Venter.
Most broadcasters, manufacturers and retailers of television equipment support DVB-T because it will stimulate the local market. On the other hand, adoption of the ISDB-T platform will reduce competition, increase telecoms costs and thereby reduce benefits to consumers. “In fact, if a different standard is adopted, we will have to import skills and technology and turn our backs on what exists locally. This will stifle growth of the ICT sector,” says Venter.
A move to ISDB-T will also have implications for all Southern African Development Community countries because they will have to follow suit to ensure harmonisation in radio frequency spectrum in order to prevent cross-border spectrum interference. “It is imperative that the DTT standard adopted for South Africa be aligned with the broader African market. The South African television market is not large enough to warrant more than one entrant should the technology not be exportable to other markets.”
The ISDB-T standard-based technology has to be imported from Brazil and Japan with little or no opportunity for local innovation. “There is significant benefit to Brazil in terms of export and licensing of their intellectual property. Yes, this will be coupled with the development of training facilities in South Africa and perhaps the manufacture of some STBs locally. However, issues of sustainability and creation of local IP that will lead to ICT sector growth and exports will not be achieved by the adoption of ISDB-T. Hundreds of millions of Rands spent by broadcasters, signal distributors and manufacturers in South Africa on DVB-T equipment will have been wasted and staff will need to be retrained,” says Venter.
Altech UEC has invested millions in developing set-top box technology based on the DVB-T standard. “The company will be able to absorb that cost,” says Venter. “The company is able to rapidly understand and adopt any technology in the broadcast STB space. As such Altech UEC is technology neutral. Over the past 15 years, Altech UEC has generated income of more than R8 billion from about 10 million STBs. About half of these were exports. However, it needs to be stated that should government decide to go with the ISDB-T technology, Altech and other industry players will not hesitate to launch legal proceedings against government, not only to reverse the decision, but also to claim millions of Rands spent on costs and wasted resources.”
Altech UEC developed significant Linux-based middleware as part of the South African trials. “Altech UEC has repeatedly given undertakings to the government that we would look to share this technology with South African companies and/or the government on an internationally competitive commercial basis similar to that proposed by the Brazilian government.
“The Department of Communication’s stated objective is to create policies that encourage innovation and the development of local IP. It is ironic that the department has not engaged with local companies to understand the IP they have and could make available to the country. Altech UEC has written to the department on numerous occasions to facilitate such discussions, but has been unable to secure meetings.”
Venter believes it is time business stands up to slow and ineffective government decisions, in its own interest and that of the broad public.
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