The bottom line

"The time has come," the Walrus said, 'to talk of many things: of shoes - and ships - and sealing-wax, of cabbages and kings, and why the sea is boiling hot, and whether pigs have wings.'

Frankly, the time has come to speak of the great debacle that is digital television, and the mammoth cost SA is paying for very little benefit, a benefit that erodes as the delays drag on, and on, with apologies to Lewis Carroll. Digital TV was meant to go live this month, but that is not going to happen. Maybe next year, who knows?

A recent article by academic and deputy president of the South African Communications Association (SACOMM), Julie Reid, argues that SA will end up paying more than R11 billion to migrate to digital television. That's more, she notes, than what the country spent to host a soccer tournament, the price tag being our ticket to entry.

I'm not so sure the price tag will level off there. Set-top boxes alone will cost the taxpayer R960 times five million, which is R4.8 billion. Admittedly, that is a 70% subsidy on the box, installation and a new aerial. Yet, even if we strip the extra costs out for those who don't need a new aerial, and can install their own boxes - it's not hard, even I can do it - the box the government wants us to have will cost almost R800.

Yes, almost R800. For two-thirds of that price, someone can get a basic DStv decoder, a dish, and have it all installed. An entry-level bouquet costs R20 a month and voila, television. Oh yeah, and the obligatory tax on owning a telly that goes to the South African Broadcasting Corporation's (SABC's) coffers. Let's not talk about that.

However, that R4.8 billion does not include the billions the broadcasters have spent, such as whatever etv has had to fork out. It doesn't include the amount it cost Sentech to roll-out DVB-T2. And Sentech's cost is on top of the previous amount it cost to start rolling out DVB-T, before government's rather odd dalliance with the Brazilians, which brought the entire process to a grinding halt.

So, let's add on a few more billions. Based on the available figures, Sentech will have spent R1.3 billion and the SABC another R1.6 billion.

Wow. R7.7 billion. That's a lot of tom. The question is: what do we get for our R7.7 billion in taxpayers' money, assuming the amount doesn't move increasingly higher?

Simple. We get digital television, more spectrum, jobs and a catalyst for the flagging local electronics manufacturing sector. Moving to digital TV will create about 23 500 jobs, and freeing up spectrum has the potential to add even more jobs and bolster the economy because of the knock-on effects of increased broadband.

Oh, wait. Communications has already indicated that the so-called digital dividend will be smaller than expected. Scratch that.

SA could have simply brought in el cheapo boxes from China for $20 each, instead of being all fancy pants about it.

Another benefit is that digital TV will, with one fell swoop, about double the number of homes with access to the Internet, because the boxes come with a USB port and can, therefore, act like a modem.

Oh, wait. People living on the edge of the breadline can't afford to pay data bundles monthly. Plus, less spectrum means there is less of a business case, so they may say, for operators to roll-out broadband in rural areas.

Scratch that.

Jobs! SA needs jobs! The future is not looking so hot, with companies under pressure, and more dark clouds looming over Europe and the US, so job creation is a super idea.

Let's be fair, let's work on a total cost of R7.7 billion, because that's the figure I've been able to come to, based on what has been put in the public domain. So, R4.8 billion to create 23 500 jobs equals R327 659 to create just one job. Seriously?

I'm guessing that most of the jobs will be low-paid, as many opportunities will come from installation and call centres. Frankly, installation is simple. Even I can do that, although I'm not so sure I'd want to be hanging onto the roof for dear life trying to point the aerial in the right direction.

Needless to say, at R327 659 to create one job, the international deadline to migrate will have come and gone before those people who benefit have earned enough in wages to surpass what the job cost.

Digital TV is hardly likely to be turned on this year, and the digital deadline is mid-2015, which is when the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) will cease analogue broadcast. That's two-and-a-half years away. If we only started spending now, it would cost SA more than R10 000 a month to get there, assuming we meet the deadline.

Frankly, SA could have simply brought in el cheapo boxes from China for $20 each, instead of being all fancy pants about it and insisting on adding a bunch of wonderful extras - thereby creating a uniquely South African box - in a bid to drive e-government and protect local manufacturing.

Call it R200 a box, depending on where the rand goes. So, that would have taken the entire cost for all the subsided boxes, at 100% cover, to R1 billion... leaving R6 billion as spare change.

Imagine the possibilities had R6 billion been invested wisely, instead of SA electing to do it bigger and better than anyone else. It's exactly government's ambition that has left us where we are now: no digital TV in sight.

Government should stop trying to get too many rewards out of what should have been a simple migration and just stick to enabling business. It should stop wasting cash and spend where it really is needed, not on fancy decoders, but rather on simple things, like houses, water, electricity and textbooks.