Communications and Digital Technologies Minister, Khumbudzo Ntshavheni, was in Mthatha and Ngqeleni last week to mobilise communities to register for set-top boxes, needed to migrate their television sets from analogue to digital broadcasting.
This comes as the government has set itself a new target to complete the switch from analogue to digital broadcast migration by March 31, 2022.
Ntshavheni also had interviews with SABC radio stations, Umhlobo Wenene and Tru FM, as well as Mthatha-based Unitra Community Radio (UCR FM), where she outlined the digital migration process as part of her awareness programme.
“The switch from analogue to digital broadcasting will free up the spectrum and that will increase the connectivity of the country, so that those in rural areas can have access to internet.
“The migration will also allow a new way of viewing television by having more channels with better picture quality,” Ntshavheni said, during an interview with Tru FM.
Ntshaveni said that those that had registered for set-top boxes by October 31 would be migrated from analogue to digital by the cut-off date of March 31, 2022, and those who register from November 1 will only be migrated after March 31, 2022.
Families with a household income of not more than R3 500 per month are eligible for free set-top boxes and are urged to go and register at their nearest post office.
The decision to migrate from analogue to digital broadcasting emanates from an instruction from the International Communications Union, a United Nations body responsible for telecommunication that determined that member countries must migrate from analogue television to digital television by June 2015.
The digital terrestrial television migration process is a global technology enhancement initiative that aims at leapfrogging countries into digital domains, targeting to improve quality of services and enabling efficient use of spectrum resources.
Households using satellite television decoders such as DStv, OpenView and other need not worry as they are already migrated.
- The public can find out more about the digital migration or check whether their television sets comply with requirements for digital migration by calling 0860 736 832 or via WhatsApp on 060 062 5458.
