Johannesburg - The department of Communications will require additional money to the R2.4 billion already approved by the cabinet for the procurement of set top boxes to implement the country’s migration from analogue to digital television.
The department, which has failed to get the project off the ground since it was first approved in 2007, is expected to extend the deadline for the delivery of the set top boxes, as it is set to miss the 2013/14 deadline. The department was supposed to deliver more than 2 million boxes by the end of March next year, but severe delays have made this impossible.
Documents released after this week’s medium-term budget policy statement by Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan confirm the failure to migrate from the ageing analogue to digital platform within the set deadline.
While former Communications minister Dina Pule is likely to shoulder most of the blame for the chaotic status of the project, her successor, Yunus Carrim, is also under pressure to at least set the tone for implementation before next year’s elections.
According to the 2013 Adjusted Estimates of National Expenditure, when the cabinet approved R2.4bn to procure 5 million set top boxes, it had not taken into account the costs of the acquisition of antennas and the installation of the boxes.
“This has resulted in significant delays in the project, and nothing has been achieved to date. A further delaying factor has been the as yet unresolved legal dispute between the Department of Communications and free-to-air broadcaster e.tv about set top box control,” the 2013 Adjusted Estimates of National Expenditure read.
The failure to include the costs for the acquisition of antennas and installation of the boxes is likely to raise the costs of getting the project off the ground.
Carrim told the National Assembly in August that Sentech had already provided about 80 percent of the country with the network for digital terrestrial television (DTT) and intended to reach 84 percent by March next year.
The remaining 16 percent of the country that cannot be accessed by DTT would be serviced by satellite.
In December, the Johannesburg High Court set aside Pule’s May 2012 decision to instruct state signal distributor Sentech to take responsibility for set top box control system for free-to-air DTT.
The court found the instruction unlawful and of no force.
Carrim’s spokesman Siya Qoza said this week the minister would take the outcomes of his consultation to the cabinet, which will determines how fast the roll-out is done.
“The minister is acutely aware of the challenges and has put considerable energy into trying to get the co-operation of all the relevant stakeholders so that we can begin the roll-out as soon as possible. Meeting the deadline is not the responsibility of government alone,” said Qoza.
The SABC is expected to spend about R6bn on the digital technology in the period up to March 2015, as part of the digital migration.
Earlier this year, Pule withdrew from her appeal against the judgment.
Last year, the Communications department short-listed 36 companies for the the multibillion-rand contract to provide poor households with set-top boxes.
Sunday Independent