The government has asked the Treasury for an additional R803m to complete its much delayed television digital migration programme, which has missed multiple deadlines and has been described as “a national embarrassment”.
The additional funding, which would bring the cost of the project to more than R2bn since its inception in 2008, is to cover an additional 67,943 qualifying households. It will also plug a funding gap caused by legal fees incurred during court action earlier in 2025.
The request was sent to Treasury last month after the department of communications & digital technologies missed the latest analogue switch-off deadline of March 31. This follows a ruling by the Pretoria high court, in favour of e.tv, that it was unlawful for the cabinet to determine the analogue switch-off date. The court also stopped Sentech from switching off analogue signals.
Digital migration is the transition from analogue to digital television broadcasting signal that allows for more efficient use of the radio frequency spectrum. Set-top boxes are required for analogue television sets to receive and display digital signal. The government is providing free boxes to households with an income of less than R3,500.
The department has over the last decade missed several switch-off deadlines since the International Telecommunication Union’s mandated June 2015 migration deadline.
Departmental spokesperson Nomawethu Solwandle told the Sunday Times the R803m request was “part of the adjustment budget process where departments are required to make submissions to National Treasury for unbudgeted expenditure”.
“The current submission was influenced by the March court ruling that the analogue switch-off could not proceed on March 31 2025 as originally planned.”
She said this meant the programme, initially planned to conclude on December 31 2024, “had to accommodate additional budget resource requirements for operational expenses beyond December 2024”.
Solwandle said the extension of the project led to expanding operational demands, such as additional set-top boxes, contracting installations for existing and future households, extending registration periods and public awareness campaigns.
The additional funds would also go to contracting personnel to co-ordinate provincial activities to the expanded period.
The delayed digital migration programme has already been overseen by more than a dozen ministers including Faith Muthambi, Mmamoloko Kubayi, Nomvula Mokonyane, Stella Ndabeni-Abrahams, Khumbudzo Ntshavheni, Mondli Gungubele and now Solly Malatsi.
A decade ago, the government estimated that it would provide free set-top boxes to more than 5-million poor households, but this figure was revised down to less than 3-million.
Solwandle said about 1.6-million households had been connected so far. There were now 156,000 households outstanding, she said.
The department said as of September 20, about 70,000 decoders were being stored at the SA Post Office warehouse. “These devices form part of the ongoing installation process, which is being accelerated through structured installation drives. Installers are being deployed across provinces,” Solwandle said.
The department was also “closely monitoring and tracking installation progress to avoid bottlenecks and to make sure households already registered are not left behind in the migration process”.
In a presentation made to parliament’s portfolio committee of communications and digital technologies earlier in Sdeptember, the department said 67,943 unfunded new households had been registered.
The installation fee was hiked from R650 to R850 in June to encourage installer uptake. There were 451 installation companies appointed nationwide.
Experts have voiced concern about the cost and potential obsolescence of the technology being rolled out. “The numbers just don’t make sense to me, nor does the logic,” said technology commentator Toby Shapshak.
There already was technology which could do what the government was trying to achieve at a lower price and he questioned whether the country was getting value for money.
“An Open View decoder from e.tv costs R800 and includes all three SABC channels. It’s a satellite decoder, so it can be accessed anywhere as long as you have a DStv satellite dish and electricity.”
Shapshak asked why the government didn’t “just buy these and add a dish and installation”. The cost of an internet-enabled smart stick ranged from R500, while a media box running Android cost around R1,200.
“These would, however, require an internet connection, but they still provided smart functionality to older TV sets,” he said.
During the Covid-19 pandemic, then minister Ndabeni-Abrahams suggested getting digital television sets could be an option to fast-track the delayed digital migration programme.
Parliament’s communications & digital technologies portfolio committee chair Khusela Diko said the digital migration process had become “a national embarrassment”.
“Since missing the ITU deadline in 2015, government has repeatedly postponed analogue switch-off. Ten years later, South Africa continues to squander the economic and technological benefits of digital migration,” Diko said.
“It is worrying to note that the department is approaching National Treasury with a request of more than R800m to continue to roll out this disastrous programme. This is a matter we will be engaging on with the department.”
Last year the Treasury said it was expecting expenditure on digital migration to decrease at an average annual rate of 67.2%, from R1.6bn in 2023/24 to R57.5m in 2026/27, “due to the conclusion of the broadcasting digital migration project”.
Nomvuyiso Batyi, CEO of the Association of Comms and Technology, an organisation which represents the ICT sector, said: “The set-top boxes cannot be deemed as obsolete technology in that by design the decoders are meant to convert digital signal broadcasting to an analogue TV set.”
However, Batyi had questions about decoders that have been stored for years at SA Post Office warehouses. “Of concern is whether the decoders are functional.”
The funding request to the Treasury included registration of indigent households and payment of installers. “The only other alternative is for households to be offered a subsidy to purchase an integrated digital TV,” she said.
Solwandle said the new analogue switch-off date had not yet been set and refused to saye whether it would be in the current calendar year.
“The minister of communications & digital technologies will determine the new date for analogue switch-off in consultation with relevant key stakeholders and in line with the applicable legislation.”
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