Minister promises to crack the whip on digital migration

Communications & digital technologies minister Stella Ndabeni-Abrahams has promised to speed up the digital migration project, which will lead to a complete analogue switch-off in March 2022.

This is in line with President Cyril Ramaphosa’s announcement during his state of the nation address last week that the long-awaited national switch-off process of analogue television transmitters, which will see the country move away from analogue to digital broadcasting, will get underway next month.

The president promised that this process, which will be done province by province, will be completed by the end of March next year.

During a briefing on Wednesday, Ndabeni-Abrahams informed the portfolio committee on communications that the analogue switch-off will be implemented incrementally in provincial phases as milestones, starting with the Free State in March this year.

Committee chair Boyce Maneli said the committee noted the minister’s commitment. However, the committee wants to be provided with a clear project timeline so that it can monitor progress and hold the department accountable.

Maneli said in light of the briefing, the committee will need to revise its programme in order to give priority to the digital migration project.

“Although we take note of the fact that the department is still awaiting finalisation by cabinet of the project rapid response team and the governance structure, the committee will continue monitoring the project,” Maneli said.

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