Digital migration public consultation urged

By Damaria Senne, ITWeb senior journalist

Johannesburg, 05 Dec 2006

Government plans to solicit input from members of the public with regard to its plan to migrate the country's broadcasting infrastructure from an analogue to digital platform.

A draft digital migration strategy, which was developed from the recommendations of the digital migration report, will be published in the Government Gazette this week, says Department of Communications spokesman Albi Modise.

The digital migration working group handed the document to communications minister Ivy Matsepe-Casaburri last week. The 320-page report examines policy, economic, technical and content issues, and how these would impact the digital migration process.

The draft strategy includes viable options for the migration process, recommendations, as well as government's response to these recommendations, Modise says.

Strategies include keeping set-top boxes affordable, providing subsidies for low-income communities, as well as embarking on a large-scale education campaign so ordinary people know what digital TV will mean to their lives, he says.

The general public, as well as ICT stakeholders, will be invited to provide input and express their concerns with regard to the outlined digital migration process, Modise says.

Following input from the public, the report will be finalised and presented to cabinet, he adds.

The intention is that the national strategy on digital migration is ready for implementation by February or March, he says.

"We have tight deadlines as we would like to have moved to digital broadcasting infrastructure by 2010," Modise says.

Norman Munzhalele, the communications department's chief director of policy, previously noted that some of the issues dealt with in the report include whether government should form a company dedicated to implementing the digital migration process, and whether the migration process should be done in phases by regions, or with a "big bang" approach.

Modise says government is looking at a policy-driven switchover to digital TV, where government employs various strategies to encourage consumers to purchase set-top boxes.