South Africa makes progress with DTT

South Africa continues to make progress in the transition to digital terrestrial broadcasting using DVB-T.
SADIBA (Southern Africa Digital Broadcasting Association) formed in 2001 made a firm recommendation for DVB-T in a report published in January 2002.
Although the DBAB (Digital Broadcasting Advisory Board) was expected to make an announcement on all digital transitions this has not yet occured. DAB services however are progressing and DVB-T trial transmissions are taking place in Johanesburg by both Sentech and Orbicomm.

Sentech was first on the air in February 2000 with 5 fixed and 2 mobile targeted transmissions.
The fixed service uses 8k, 64QAM modulation with a 1/32 guard period and a 2/3 FEC. The mobile service uses 2k, QPSK with a 1/2 FEC and a 1/4 guard. Both configurations which are in an 8MHz UHF channel are subject to change.

The Orbicom transmission also uses an 8MHZ UHF channel and has been radiating since November 2001. Both fixed and mobile transmission experiments are taking place.
8k, 64QAM modulation with a 1/32 guard and an FEC of 2/3 is used for fixed reception with 2k, 16QAM, a 1/8 guard and an FEC of 2/3 used for mobile tests. These settings are also varied so that effect of different configurations can be assessed.

It has been reported that the digital to analogue transition will take 10-15 years. For more information look at the following website http://www.sadiba.co.za/pages/home/sa_status.html
 

DVB endeavour to ensure that the information presented on these pages is correct, however we are not able to guarantee its accuracy. If you have additional information or corrections please sent an e-mail to dvb@dvb.org
 

Last page update: 19th December 2011, Barry TewSouth Africa is a step closer towards migrating to a digital terrestrial television broadcasting regime. Today, Minister of Communications, Ms Dina Pule, announced that Sentech, the organisation responsible for rolling out the digital broadcasting network around the country, has now rolled out the digital network to 61% of the population.