The final switch-off date for South Africa’s analogue frequencies has now been set for the end of March.

The Department of Communications and Digital Technologies’ (DCDT’s) three-month extension from December 31, 2024, aims to ensure that as many indigent households as possible will be able to continue accessing broadcast services.

This follows Communications and Digital Technologies Minister Solly Malatsi’s warning last year that the department faced “some serious challenges” in meeting the December deadline, with slowed set-top-box (STB) installations and registrations amid data integrity challenges.

With hundreds of thousands of South African households still dependent on analogue as their source of access to television services, the DCDT now aims to aggressively accelerate the delivery and installation of STBs to indigent households by the end of March to ensure household preparedness for the looming switch-off.

Currently, about 467 000 indigent households that are registered for government-provided STBs have not yet received the STBs.

“There is no denying that the Broadcasting Digital Migration (BDM) project has dragged on for far too long, costing the government R1.23-billion for dual illumination, which refers to the simultaneous transmission of both analogue and digital signals.

“This process is costly and cannot be sustained indefinitely – more so at a time when the fiscus is under extreme pressure,” he said in a statement published in December.

The postponement of the analogue switch-off deadline recognises the considerable delays that have plagued the BDM project since its inception and provides the necessary relief that makes provision for more time to migrate as many South African as possible before the final switch-off.

“To avert further delays and ensure efficient delivery, I have directed the director-general to implement consequence management for any individuals responsible for failures within the department.”

In 2006, South Africa acceded to the International Telecommunication Union regional agreement in Geneva that determined that Region 1 countries, which include South Africa, migrate from analogue television to digital television by June 17, 2015.

Initially, South Africa aimed to complete the migration process in 2011, but the programme suffered serious setbacks during the technology negotiation processes, with every deadline set having been missed since.

In 2023, South Africa’s transition from analogue broadcasting to digital terrestrial television analogue frequencies gained some traction following the adoption of a two-step approach, which resulted in the successful switch-off of analogue services above the 694 MHz band on July 31, 2023.

The second step allowed for the temporary accommodation of some of the highly populous areas using the sub-694 MHz until December 2024.