MEDIA ADVISORY 

As pointed out by the President during the 2021 State of the Nation Address, “The completion of digital migration is vital to our ability to effectively harness the enormous opportunities presented by technological change.” In order to realise the target in the pronouncement to switch off analogue television transmitters by the end of March 2022 after years of delays and missed targets, the Department has announced a Cabinet-approved revised plan to accelerate digital migration.

The revised plan is a shift from a staggered provincial approach to a consolidated national approach with switch-offs happening simultaneously in all nine provinces of South Africa with different completion and migration dates.

On Friday, 26 November 2021 the Minister of Communications and Digital Technologies, Hon. Khumbudzo Ntshavheni will officially switch-off the last transmitter in the Northern Cape at Upington to mark successful digital migration of the Province which is the second after the successful switch-off of the Free State in October 2021.

Invitation is extended to all media houses to join this national milestone that began in 2016 in the Northern Cape where 15 transmitters were switched off in the area of the Square Kilometre Array (SKA) in compliance with the radio-quiet restrictions of the international radio telescope research project in which South Africa is an active participant. Details of the switch-off and day’s event are as follows:

Date: 26 November 2021

Time: 06:00 – 14:00

Venue: Upington

After the switch-off, the Minister will do a door-to-door visit in surrounding townships to monitor smooth migration to digital and encourage households that have not yet migrated to do so.

Enquiries:

Tlangelani Manganyi 060 886 4670 : This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. 

Facebook : Department of Communications & Digital Technologies.

Twitter : @CommsZA 

Issued by the Ministry of Communications and Digital Technologies

Download Document here: Media Advisory for the Last Transmitter Switch-Off in Upington Northern Cape