The long-awaited national switch-off process of analogue television transmitters will get underway next month.<\/p>\n
The analogue switch-off will see the country move away from analogue to digital broadcasting.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is anticipated that this process, which will be done province-by-province, will be completed by the end of March 2022,\u201d said President Cyril Ramaphosa.<\/p>\n
The President made this announcement during his State of the Nation Address (SONA) during a hybrid joint sitting of the National Assembly and National Council of Provinces on Thursday.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, the licensing of high demand spectrum is at an advanced stage.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe hope that the ongoing litigation on the licensing matter will provide legal certainty and will not unduly delay the spectrum auction process.\u201d<\/p>\n
The President told Parliament that the completion of digital migration is vital to harness opportunities presented by technological change.<\/p>\n
The primary aim of digital migration is to release valuable spectrum that will be used to provide new services such as wireless and other broadband services.<\/p>\n
It will also lead to efficient use of available spectrum since digital broadcasts only require a fraction of the spectrum required for broadcasting services. Digital broadcasting will bring more television channels, more content and allow more choice for consumers.<\/p>\n
The migration will also result in better quality sound and visuals on television and connect everyone in South Africa.<\/p>\n
Climate change<\/strong><\/p>\n Meanwhile, the President also shone the spotlight on the threat that climate change poses to the environmental health, socio-economic development and economic growth.<\/p>\n He said government is working to fulfil its commitments under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and its Paris Agreement, which include the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions.<\/p>\n He said Eskom, the country\u2019s largest greenhouse gas emitter, has committed in principle to net-zero emission by 2050 and to increase its renewable capacity.<\/p>\n \u201cEskom will be looking to partner with investors to repurpose and repower part of its coal fleet,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n This will be done in a way that stimulates investment, local economic activity and local manufacturing, as part of a just transition.<\/p>\n \u201cOur work on climate change will be guided by the Presidential Coordinating Commission on Climate Change, which is meeting for the first time this month.\u201d<\/p>\n He said the Commission will work on a plan for a transition to a low-carbon economy and climate-resilient society.<\/p>\n \u201cWe will not achieve higher rates of growth and employment if we do not implement structural economic reforms.\u201d<\/p>\n He believes these reforms are necessary to reduce costs and barriers to entry, increase competition, stimulate new investment and create space for new entrants in the market.<\/p>\n He said the work is driven through Operation Vulindlela, which involves a team in National Treasury and the President\u2019s office.<\/p>\n Operation Vulindlela is focused on reforms in the electricity, water, telecommunications and transport sectors, as well as reforms to the country’s visa and immigration regime. \u2013 SAnews.gov.za<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The long-awaited national switch-off process of analogue television transmitters will get underway next month. The analogue switch-off will see the country move away from analogue to digital broadcasting. \u201cIt is anticipated that this process, which will be done province-by-province, will be completed by the end of March 2022,\u201d said President Cyril Ramaphosa. The President made […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[38678],"class_list":{"0":"post-180287","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-south-africa","7":"tag-sanews","8":"entry"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/180287","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=180287"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/180287\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=180287"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=180287"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=180287"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}