A delegation of Japanese engineers and diplomats was in SA last week to prove the Brazilian upgrade to their digital TV standard - ISDB-T - can work in the Southern African region.
The reason a field test was run in the first place is because the South African government earlier this year decided to hit pause on its implementation of the European DVB-T standard, and investigate the proposed benefits of ISDB-T.
The industry was, justifiably, more than a tad irritated, as more than R700 million had been spent gearing up to switchover to digital TV on DVB-T.
Sentech has rolled out new transmission equipment to at least a third of the country. Black entrepreneurs had set up manufacturing facilities to benefit from the need for decoders to translate the signal so that we can still watch TV on old sets. All of this activity has stalled, while we wait for some sort of decision from the powers that be.
Eureka!
According to the Japanese, the tests were a resounding success, and settled concerns that the standard would not work on an 8MHz frequency.
This is a rather important point, because it's been one of the biggest arguments against the standard. SA - and the rest of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) region - receives television on 8MHz. North American countries watch on 6MHz.
Africa - and much of Europe - broadcasts on an 8MHz frequency, because the original analogue TV standard in use in those countries was PAL (Phase Alternating Line), as opposed to the NTSC (National Television System Committee) in use in most of the Americas. PAL is a messier frequency and “spills” over into the next channel, so countries using it needed a wider frequency band to cater for the overflow.
Why we ended up on PAL and not NTSC is not that important, not anymore. The point is we did, and now we need to move over to digital television, because the rest of the world is too. It does, however, mean we can fit 25% more programming into a channel than countries in the Americas, which is a bonus.
However, those in the know say ISDB-T has never been properly implemented on an 8MHz spectrum, and to try and do so would open up a can of expensive worms, because it's a big unknown.
Because we are on an 8MHz frequency, it's not possible to simply plug in - and play - ISDB-T. More investment will be required, new standards will have to be developed, and there is no way our budding manufacture sector will be able to roll out decoders in time for switchover.
Nonsensical
Diplomats from Japan and Brazil have rubbished concerns that ISDB-T would require more investment, and would mean ripping out what we already have in place. It wouldn't be expensive, they argue.
In addition, both countries would be happy to aid SA - and the rest of SADC - in moving over to ISDB-T. They would share knowledge, help with skills development and even make funding available for joint ventures.
There is talk that SA has been promised a power station - and goodness only knows we need some more electricity - in return for using ISDB-T.
Nicola Mawson, senior journalist, ITWeb
The Brazilians also pooh-pooh the suggestion that moving to ISDB-T so late in the game would push migration back by three years. Not so, they say, this can be done in a mere eight months, based on previous experience in South America.
So determined are both countries to get SA - and the rest of SADC - to move to ISDB-T that several delegations of government officials, industry and journalists were flown to Brazil to see first hand how brilliant the technology is.
In addition, delegations from both Brazil and Japan have been to SA with the same message: “Ours is better than what you are rolling out.”
However, proponents of ISDB-T have a small window of opportunity in which to prove their technology is really superior. At the end of this month, SADC communication ministers are meant to decide what standard the entire region will adopt.
A few weeks is hardly enough time to run proper comparison tests, which should include every possible digital standard and variants thereof, because whatever we choose now needs to last for three decades. These tests also need to be independently verified against international standards so that they can be accepted by the industry.
Despite the looming deadline, which the Japanese concede is a bit too short to really sell ISDB-T, yet another test is planned for next month, in Botswana. It seems the Japanese know something the rest of us don't - why else test ISDB-T after a decision has been made?
Suspicious minds
Perhaps what the Japanese “know” goes something along the lines of a SADC decision to wait on a final decision until proper field tests are done. After all, what are a few more months when we are going to miss international analogue switch-off anyway?
Or perhaps there is simply no need for proper testing, because the decision is already sewn up in favour of ISDB-T?
There is an adage that says where there is smoke, there is fire. In this case, the smoke wafted to my attention thanks to the bush telegraph method of sharing rumours.
There is talk that SA has been promised a power station - and goodness only knows we need some more electricity - in return for using ISDB-T. I've received calls from people asking me if I know what government has been promised, and questions are being raised all over the show around who is getting what under the table.
I can understand the need by both the Japanese and the Brazilians to punt their technology. It comes down to simple economics - the more people on ISDB-T, the more decoders and transmitters will be needed and the cheaper these will become.
SADC will become another region into which these countries can sell their products. In addition, as prices come down, maybe Brazilians will buy set-top boxes and digital TV migration will become a success in Brazil.
Neither country will admit this tactic, though. One cannot be seen to be punting one's own product at the expense of the host country's manufacturing sector. However, if the decision is to move to ISDB-T, and speed is of the essence, there will be no solution other than to import.
Importing will ultimately cost SA. It will cost the country an opportunity to export our skills and finished products to Southern Africa, it will cost us the chance to set up a new manufacturing industry, and it will cost us in lost jobs and closed businesses.
I can't even begin to tally this cost - it's just too much. But I do know that whatever the knock-on impact of importing instead of manufacturing, it will be far higher than any benefit South Africans will receive.
Especially since Japan never delivered a promised semi-conductor plant to Brazil, according to a 2008 story by the Brazilian ITWeb [not affiliated to the one you are reading]. The story, translated from Portuguese by Google, says Brazil was meant to get a factory in return for choosing ISDB-T.
Makes you think, doesn't it?
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