Theme: spectrum_digital_infrastructure
Responsible: SENTECH / Department of Communications and Digital Technologies
Technically tractable — digitisation and surveyor-general pipeline improvements are underway — but constrained by weak municipal capacity, incomplete township proclamations, and lack of inter-departmental IT integration. Political will exists at ministerial level but execution is chronically lagging.
South Africa's transition from analogue to digital terrestrial television (DTT) using the DVB-T2 standard is among the most persistently delayed policy deliverables in post-apartheid infrastructure history — originally planned for 2011, it has been deferred multiple times due to procurement disputes, an encoding policy impasse, and contested set-top box (STB) subsidies. The analogue switch-off (ASO) matters beyond broadcasting: completing it frees the "digital dividend" spectrum in the 694-862 MHz range, low-band frequencies essential for affordable rural mobile broadband and central to 5G coverage economics. SENTECH manages DTT signal distribution; the SABC and e.tv are the primary transitioning broadcasters. An estimated 3.5-5 million qualifying low-income households require state-subsidised STBs. A 2023 settlement resolved the encoding policy dispute. As of early 2026, the ASO has been completed in some regions but not nationally.
Referenced in OECD Economic Surveys: South Africa
OECD SA Survey (2020). Land reform acceleration recommended in the 2020 survey.
"Discussions focused on the challenges municipalities face in issuing title deeds, delays in project completion, and the need for uniform policies to improve efficiency." — Portfolio Committee on Human Settlements, June 2025
South Korea achieved 99% household broadband penetration by 2003 through the Cyber Korea 21 plan: government subsidised last-mile fibre rollout in rural areas, mandated open-access unbundling so ISPs competed on the state-owned KT network, and provided computers to 10 million low-income households. Broadband penetration drove the gaming and e-commerce export industries. SA's broadband penetration remains below 60%; Telkom's legacy infrastructure, like Korea's pre-reform KT, creates bottlenecks that open-access unbundling could resolve.
Electricity Regulation Amendment Act — Competitive Electricity Market
Integrated Resource Plan (IRP) 2024 Update — Revised Electricity Mix
Energy Bounce-Back and Industrial Energy Self-Generation
National Transmission Company Capitalisation and Grid Expansion
Eskom Restructuring — Generation, Transmission, and Distribution Unbundling
How to cite
Wilse-Samson, L. (2026). Digital TV Migration and Analogue Switch-Off. SA Policy Space. NYU Wagner School of Public Policy. Retrieved 11 May 2026, from https://sa-policy-space.vercel.app/ideas/digital-tv-migration-and-analogue-switch-off?snapshot=2026-05-11
Data as of 2026-05-11 · latest PMG meeting 2026-05-08
Freight Rail Third-Party Access and Transnet Separation