.

DIGITAL MIGRATION DEADLINE, AND A DODGY SENTECH TENDER 

 

More than 10 years after the Cabinet first promised to complete digital migration, the final national switch-off of the analogue signal is set for 31 March 2022. This is a deadline that President Cyril Ramaphosa announced in his State of the Nation Address in February 2021 and again in February this year.

At least 5 million poor households are supposed to have been given free STBs so they can continue watching on the digital signal, but this programme has largely failed and government is now simply turning off the analogue signal. By early February, five provinces had been switched off, leaving poorer households in the dark. A total of 11 ministers have presided over this project. It has moved from one state-owned entity to another, and is now with Sentech. OUTA will continue to monitor this process.

Read more about this project here