Communications Minister Ayanda Dlodlo has backed the encryption of set-top boxes, effectively dumping predecessor Faith Muthambi’s policy of supporting nonencryption.
Muthambi’s stance angered the ANC and its allies, the South African Communist Party (SACP) and Cosatu, because it was in defiance of the ruling party’s policy.
This standoff delayed SA’s plans to migrate from analogue to digital.
The position Muthambi, now public service and administration minister, took on nonecryption was supported by pay-TV company MultiChoice.
Dlodlo has reportedly said encryption is part of ANC policy. She was quoted on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum on Africa in Durban as saying: "I’m not going to change … ANC policy [until] … the party conference in December."
Her spokeswoman, Phumla Williams, was yet to provide further details by the time of publishing on Monday.
Dlodlo’s stand will probably pave the way for the much-delayed migration from analogue to digital
In 2013, the ANC adopted a policy which supported the use of encrypted set-top boxes for digital migration. Despite this, Muthambi adopted an amendment that called for nonencry-pted set-top boxes, arguing this was in line with her department’s mandate to provide free access to content for citizens.
Dlodlo’s stand will probably pave the way for the much-delayed migration from analogue to digital.
SA lags most of the continent on digital migration and missed the 2015 International Telecommunications Union deadline to switch its signal to digital. The delay has frustrated players in the ICT sector who are desperate for spectrum.
Digital migration is crucial for freeing up broadband spectrum, which will boost connectivity.
In 2016, the Universal Service and Access Agency of SA (Usaasa), which is in charge of procuring the set-top boxes, decided not to proceed with ordering the devices pending the conclusion of the legal battle over the nonencryption of the converters. Muthambi, together with MultiChoice, had approached the Constitutional Court to challenge the Supreme Court of Appeal judgment which found that the government was wrong not to allow encryption.
The matter was heard in February and judgment is yet to be handed down.
Broadcaster e.tv, which challenged Muthambi’s policy, had argued that conditional access was needed in free-to-air set-top boxes to allow broadcasters to compete with MultiChoice.
MultiChoice said it would be in a position to respond to Dlodlo’s remarks on Tuesday.
The pay-TV provider has previously stated that encrypted digital TV set-top boxes risk being expensive for the government and will hurt the poor.
SACP spokesman Alex Mashilo welcomed Dlodlo’s stance, saying: "The Muthambi amendment was to the benefit of … MultiChoice."
"True radical economic transformation must de-monopolise our economy. It must elbow the stranglehold of private monopoly capital, concentration, oligopolies, oligarchs and parasites from the neck of our economy, including in the media and communications sector," said Mashilo.
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