Question NW1178 to the Minister of Communications and Digital Techgnologies
02 July 2021 - NW1178
Mbhele, Mr ZN to ask the Minister of Communications and Digital Techgnologies
With regard to the broadcast digital migration project, what (a) total number of households (i) have been identified as requiring state assistance, through subsidies or otherwise, to migrate from analogue to digital broadcast signal reception and (ii) that were identified have already been migrated to date in each province, (b) are the cumulative monthly household broadcast migration targets in each province until the envisaged completion of the project and (c) are the (i) allocated budgets for the project and (ii) anticipated shortfalls in relation to the specified household migration targets in each province?
Reply:
I have been advised by the Department as follows:-
(a)(i) See table below. The data provided below is from StatsSA and has a margin of +/- 15% accuracy - noting the dynamic circumstances of households that proceed to voluntarily migrate via the existing commercial digital broadcast platforms. The Department used data from StatsSA as a reference point for planning.
|
|
|
|
ESTIMATED SUBSIDY BENEFICIARY HOUSEHOLDS |
|
|
Free State |
322 970 |
|
Northern Cape |
101 885 |
|
North West |
391 767 |
|
|
646 116 |
|
|
381 717 |
|
Eastern Cape |
551 649 |
|
KwaZulu Natal |
817 383 |
|
Western Cape |
380 100 |
|
|
1 091 256 |
|
|
4 684 843 |
(a)(ii) See table below. Installations are conducted in a sequential provincial schedule, as depicted in the order of provinces below:-
|
PROVINCE |
Total Registrations Completed as at June 2021 |
Total Installations Completed as at June 2021 |
|
Free State |
278 069 |
213 902 |
|
Northern Cape |
72 429 |
44 356 |
|
North West |
155 530 |
85 224 |
|
Limpopo |
86 817 |
37 381 |
|
Mpumalanga |
97 095 |
49 288 |
|
Eastern Cape |
163 162 |
25 231 |
|
KwaZulu Natal |
206 652 |
77 639 |
|
Western Cape |
54 860 |
2 |
|
Gauteng |
33 895 |
8 |
|
TOTALS |
1 148 509 |
533 031 |
(b) Monthly household migration targets are not used as a yardstick. Instead, a determination is made to conclude a critical mass threshold of 70% household migration within a target transmitter coverage area (which covers a number of predetermined towns/villages). The outcome is then applied to determine the analogue transmitter switch off (ASO) in the provincial sequence. The ASO is carried out in a provincial transmitter sequence in this controlled manner until the final transmitter within the province is switched off.
The table below provides depicts the preliminary migration schedule for each province. The ASO process is carried out in an overlapping manner between provinces. The schedule is subject to continuous revision to optimise where practical, taking external circumstances and internal implementation variables into account.
|
MIGRATION AND ANALOGUE SWITCH-OFF (ASO) PROVINCIAL SCHEDULE |
||
|
PROVINCE |
Start |
Finish (revised) |
|
FREE STATE ASO |
08/01/2018 |
07/03/2022 |
|
NORTHERN CAPE ASO |
08/01/2018 |
21/02/2022 |
|
NORTH WEST ASO |
05/04/2021 |
21/01/2022 |
|
LIMPOPO ASO |
06/09/2021 |
08/03/2022 |
|
MPUMALANGA ASO |
03/06/2021 |
14/02/2022 |
|
EASTERN CAPE ASO |
02/08/2021 |
31/01/2022 |
|
KWAZULU-NATAL |
26/07/2021 |
15/03/2022 |
|
WESTERN CAPE ASO |
23/08/2021 |
01/03/2022 |
|
GAUTENG ASO |
13/09/2021 |
22/03/2022 |
(c)(i) Total budget allocated so far for decoder subsidy, excluding goods and services, is approximately R1,2 billion.
(c)(ii) The anticipated combined national decoder subsidy shortfall is approximately R563-million for the vouchers; an additional amount will be required for the voucher system which still needs to be determined.
MS. STELLA NDABENI-ABRAHAMS, MP
MINISTER OF COMMUNICATIONS AND DIGITAL TECHNOLOGIES