SOUTH Africa’s Department of Communications and Digital Technologies (DCDT) is aiming to switch off its analogue signal and end dual illumination on March 31, 2023.
Speaking during a media briefing on Friday, Communications and Digital Technologies Minister Khumbudzo Ntshavheni gave official notice of the impending analogue switch-off (ASO).
The accompanying published Government Gazette reveals that interested parties are required to provide written comments by January 27 in support of or opposing the proposed date.
“Analogue switch off must be concluded without further delay in order to enable the telecommunication network operators to decongest the networks with the deployment of fourth-generation and fifth-generation networks,” she says, noting that the quality of connectivity is degrading across the country and some areas have completely lost network coverage.
Ntshavheni points out that the broadcasters are no longer protected in analogue frequencies, as the protection fell in June 2015.
“We have already started receiving reports of cross interference
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