The Department of Communications and Digital Technologies (DCDT) will today kick-off its four-day digital migration public education
and awareness campaign in the Free State.This follows a promise previously made by communications minister Stella Ndabeni-Abrahams that her department aims to drive “radical” digital migration public awareness campaigns.
The DCDT’s Free State campaign drive, which is in partnership with the Mantsopa Local Municipality, aims to encourage qualifying households to apply for government-subsidised set-top boxes (STBs).
According to the department, officials will conduct public awareness in Thaba Patchoa, Tweespruit, Excelsior and Ladybrand, which form part of the Mantsopa Local Municipality.
The campaign will run from today until 4 November, and the DCDT has encouraged qualifying households to visit their nearest South African Post Office (SAPO) to apply for the subsidised STBs.
DCDT deputy minister Pinky Kekana is also in the Northern Cape this week, to lead a digital migration inspection, public awareness and registration drive in that province.
Kekana will begin the campaign in Ga-Segonyana Local Municipality in the Northern Cape today, and will also visit John Taolo Gaetsewe District Municipality.
Government has committed to supply digital migration tools to 3.2 million South African households that depend on social grants and those with an income of less than R3 200. The decoders are required to convert digital broadcasting signals on analogue TV sets.
However, the process to get the digital migration decoders into qualifying households has been painstakingly slow, with a large number of STBs still stored in SAPO warehouses.
Ndabeni-Abrahams said at a press briefing last month that her department is committed to the analogue switch-off target of December 2021 as part of government’s multibillion-rand Broadcasting Digital Migration project.
The minister has stated that work has commenced with Sentech, which has been appointed as the project manager.
“We are still sticking to our guns to say the deadline for digital migration is December 2021 – we have to make sure people are migrated for both those that are being subsidised and those not subsidised,” she said.
South Africa missed the International Telecommunication Union's mid-2015 deadline to complete the full switch from analogue to digital terrestrial television.