The Constitutional Court has ruled against Communications and Digital Technologies Minister Khumbudzo Ntshavheni regarding the analogue switch-off deadline.
The apex court found that the deadline set-top boxes was unconstitutional, noting that it should be delayed to allow for more consultation. According to Justice Nonkosi Mhlanta, Ntshavheni was supposed to give notice of the switch-off to industry stakeholders to allow them to present their views.
Mhlanta further ruled that the minister must pay free-to-air television broadcaster e.tv’s legal costs in both the high court and the Constitutional Court.
This comes shortly after Ntshavheni said her department was eagerly awaiting the ConCourt’s decision so that it can conclude broadcast digital migration after e.tv appealed the ruling of a high court in Pretoria.
The high court favoured the measures taken by the minister towards the conclusion of the delayed broadcast digital migration.
The minister said that unfortunately, until the analogue switch-off, the country’s economic hubs of Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal will remain with poor network connectivity with a negative impact on the economy.
She was speaking at a media briefing on the progress of the broadcasting digital migration towards South Africa’s analogue switch-off in Pretoria on Friday.
“We have concluded the analogue switch-off and migration for the SABC analogue switch-off in the five provinces of the Free-State, Northern Cape, North West, Mpumalanga and Limpopo. Therefore, Icasa [Independent Communications Authority of South Africa] will be able to release the high-demand spectrum in these provinces,” she said.
The release of the spectrum will enable telecommunication operators to decongest the networks through the deployment of 4G and 5G networks across the country.
Ntshavheni noted that South Africans, irrespective of where they live, in recent days have experienced poor connectivity including voice calls due to increased loads on the networks.
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