Broadcasting27.09.2011

Digital TV deadlines at great risk: DoC

By Jan Vermeulen

Summary: All of the critical activities for South Africa’s digital TV launch face medium or high levels of risk of not being completed by their agreed-upon deadlines, the Department of Communications warned the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Communications.

In a presentation to the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Communications, the Department of Communications (DoC) warned that all of the critical activities in the digital terrestrial television (DTT) launch plan are at risk of not being completed by deadline.

According to the DoC, the main reasons are “internal DoC approval delays” and “lack of capacity or specialist resources to manage the delivery.”

Minister of Communications, Radhakrishna “Roy” Padayachie set ambitious goals earlier this year (2011) when he announced South Africa’s new DTT standard:

Digital switch-on in April 2012
Analogue switch-off in December 2013

Although Padayachie’s approach to SA’s information and communication technology challenges has been commended, industry players and analysts alike believe that these DTT deadlines are unrealistic.

The International Telecommunication Union (ITU) have set the international deadline for the switch-off of analogue TV transmissions for 17 June 2015.

According to the DoC presentation, the critical activities, their deadlines, risks of missing those deadlines, and reasons for the risk, are as follows:

Digital terrestrial television launch – key risks
Activity	Deadline	Risk – numeric	Risk	Reason
Finalise policy	Begin Sep 2011	5	High	DoC internal approval delays
Finalise performance period	End Sep 2011	4	High	Dependent on policy
Finalise STB standard (TC74)	End Oct 2011	3	Medium	Need consensus on STB control Has certain mandated time lines to consult
Finalise STB conformance	End Dec 2011	3	Medium	Capacity to manage process Specialist skill required to draft ToR Partially dependent on STB standard agreements
Finalise marketing and communication plans	Begin Oct 2011	4	High	Lack of dedicated marketing resource on project Specialist skill required Partially dependent on decision on agency
Finalise viewer support plans	End Nov 2011	4	High	Capacity to manage process Understanding of scale of requirement Potential lack of sufficient funding
Confirm and/or secure funding	Begin Nov 2011	5	High	No visibility of funding gap High potential of missing key MTEF deadlines
Establish PMO	Begin Oct 2011	4	High	DoC internal approval delays
Secure STB orders	End Mar 2012	3	Medium	STB manufacturing strategy not finalised Retailers not convinced of success Poor perceptions due to previous delays