Question NW89 to the Minister of Communications
23 April 2018 - NW89
Motau, Mr SC to ask the Minister of Communications
(1) (a) Why was the Northern Cape chosen for the Digital Terrestrial Television (DTT) migration roll-out and (b) what is the progress in this regard;(2) what are the major challenges that her department faces with regard to the DDT roll-out in the (a) country and (b) Northern Cape; (3) what number of set-top boxes (a) have been installed and (b) must still be installed in each province; (4) how far is her department behind schedule with the DTT migration roll-out; (5) how does the Government intend to support content development for the digital space created by digital migration and the roll-out of DTT?
Reply:
1. (a) The Northern Cape hosts part of the international Square Kilometre Array (SKA), which is an international radio telescope project undertaken in collaboration with other countries including the UK and Australia. Analogue television transmissions produce high levels of interference and as such they have to be switched off and replaced with digital television transmissions via satellite.
(b) To date, all qualifying households in the core towns within a Square Kilometre Array (SKA) have been connected to the digital platform. Subsequent to the installations of devices to all households’ in the core towns of the SKA; including Carnarvon, Vanwyksvlei, Brandvlei, Williston and Vorsburg; analogue transmission services have since been switched off. However, analogue transmission services could not be switched in other areas of the SKA due to households that do not qualify for government subsidised decoders.
2. (a) The major challenges relates to the lack of resources mainly funding.
(b) Majority of the areas in the Northern Cape are covered by Satellite network and currently, there is no stock to distribute to the qualifying registered households.
3. A table below present the statistics as at 31 March 2018.
|
PROVINCES |
ESTIMATED INDIGENTS HOUSEHOLDS |
(a) TOTAL INSTALLATIONS |
(b) BALANCE |
|
Northern Cape |
111,559 |
41,687 |
69,872 |
|
Free State |
341,306 |
104,051 |
237,255 |
|
Limpopo |
562,980 |
24,686 |
538,294 |
|
Mpumalanga |
455,867 |
40,292 |
415,575 |
|
KwaZulu Natal |
860,786 |
40,399 |
820,387 |
|
Eastern Cape |
538,633 |
10,946 |
527,687 |
|
North West |
382,692 |
37,319 |
345,373 |
|
Western Cape |
508,888 |
0 |
508,888 |
|
Gauteng |
1,237,289 |
0 |
1,237,289 |
|
TOTALS |
5,000,000 |
299,380 |
4,700,620 |
4. The department has not met the target in terms of
(a) the migration of five million qualifying households to receive government subsidised decoders;
(b) the migration of the majority of unsubscribed citizen who rely on the retail market to acquire migration devices
5. The Department is a policy maker and does not implement programmes on the ground. The department will ensure collaboration with relevant stakeholders such as the SABC and the industry to advocate for content development to feed the channels to be made available by digital migration. In 2018/19 the Department will develop a South African Audio-Visual content strategy to support the digital migration.