Sentech COO Gladwin Marumo says it is a matter of urgency that government allows the State-owned enterprise to upgrade its transmitter network so that digital television-type services can be broadcast.
Speaking today in front of the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Communications, Marumo said the cost of upgrading the Sentech network is estimated to be about R300 million.
He added that the benefits of digitisation will include more enhanced services and new applications using a transmitter network a quarter of the size of the current 552 television transmitter networks.
Marumo said Sentech is testing digital broadband video-handheld (DBV-H) to transmitters in Pretoria and Johannesburg, and a standard such as DBV-H will allow broadcast-quality services to be downloaded directly to handheld devices such as cellphones.
He told ITWeb that the cellphone network operators are extremely keen on this technology. "For instance, MTN already says video downloads to handheld devices makes sense coming from a broadcast network."
The market for handheld devices or cellphones is a major telecoms growth area in SA, with more than 15 million cellphone subscribers in the country.
Liberalisation, convergence are key
Marumo also told the committee that the new Convergence Bill, which is scheduled to come before it on 8 April, is critical to allowing the organisation and the country to enter the new digital age. He said the pace is speeding up for digitisation, and convergence is the key, as well as managed liberalisation of the industry.
Digitisation will allow for more efficient use of the spectrum of multiple language capabilities, every television will provide universal access capabilities, and e-government will be boosted, he said.
Marumo said while government has allowed the South African Broadcasting Corporation R400 million to digitise its own broadcasting services, it has given nothing to Sentech for this purpose.
"It is like playing a CD on an old record player."
Marumo said Sentech has connected 1 100 schools in Gauteng through the MyWireless network, and those schools have already been given the e-rate - the 50% connectivity discount legislated by government.
The MyWireless network is stable and has more than 4 000 commercial subscribers, he added.
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