‘Dual illumination poses threat to analogue switch-off deadline’

Communications and Digital Technologies Minister Solly Malatsi says the funding of what he calls “dual illumination” of TV signals poses a serious threat to meeting the deadline for analogue switch-off.

Dual illumination is the operation of analogue and digital TV signals at the same time.

December 31, 2024, is the deadline for the process of digital migration to be completed.

Malatsi previously said there may be a digital and analogue process happening concurrently after the deadline.

Government says it has spent about R1.23 billion since 2014 on dual illumination.

Malatsi says in this current financial year there is no allocation available from the National Treasury.

He says Sentech and the Universal Service and Access Agency of South Africa have not made more funding available.

“One of the big dilemmas that we face is covering the costs of dual illumination because where we are right now, there is no financial provision for this to happen. So if we were to say then the date should be extended for instance, we will then need to get into a conversation about where do we find the funding to cover the costs of dual illumination.  Sentech has already indicated that it is under financial strain to be able to continue with covering this.”

VIDEO EXPLAINER| DTT: Analogue v.s Digital: