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Launch of Set-Top Box Standard Brings Digital TV Closer

As South Africa gets ready to migrate to digital TV in September, authorities have unveiled standards for the manufacture of decoders that will provide digital signal for old TV sets. 

On Wednesday, 6 June, the Department of Communications together with the South African Bureau of Standards (SABS) launched the Set-Top Box decoder standard (SANS862:2012) for free-to-air digital terrestrial television (DTT) at the inaugural ICT Indaba that took place in Cape Town.

The Set Top Box is a receiver that will decode the digital signal to enable the channels to be displayed on your analogue television set. This Set Top Box will plug directly into your TV set.Migrating to digital TV, will give you a brighter, sharper picture and much better sound quality; like moving from the old video cassette to a DVD.

All television sets will be compatible with the STB either via the RF/Aerial input in older television sets, or via the RCA/audio and video inputs in modern television sets.The STB decoder operates in conjunction with an analogue television receiver minimising additional expense for the public whilst providing good quality video and sound.

Significantly, the announcement means that South Africa will now comply with the 2006 resolution of the Regional Radio Communication Conference (RRC-06) hosted by the International Telecommunications Union (ITU), as all countries in Europe, Africa, Middle East and the Islamic Republic of Iran need to migrate from analogue to digital broadcasting services by 2015. 

Source: http://www.services.gov.za/services/content/Home

QEC Prepares for STB Rollout

QEC (Pty) Ltd has positioned itself to manufacture set-top boxes (STBs) locally. Established in 1994, QEC has spent several years growing and developing a successful electronics manufacturing company in South Africa.

Early in 2012, QEC's founder brought Lereko Investments on board. Lereko is a black-owned, black-led investments company operating in South Africa.  The founding partners, the late Eric Molobi, Valli Moosa and Dr Popo Molefe had a vision of becoming effectively involved in broad-based empowerment in South African business. Shortly after its inception, Dr Lulu Gwagwa joined Lereko as Chief Operating Officer.

Another profound shareholder in QEC is Anitha Soni. Anitha Soni was awarded the much-coveted and prestigious "2002 Business Women of the Year BBQ Award". The BBQ Awards are a benchmark in the progress of empowered South Africa. It recognises achievements in Black Business and honours excellence in 12 Categories, amongst which is Businesswoman of the Year.

In April this year, QEC responded to the Department of Communications' (DoC's) call for information for the local manufacturing of DTT STB. QEC is excited for the road ahead as South Africa prepares for the migration of analogue broadcasting to digital terrestrial television (DTT).

Set-top boxes to Get Internet Access

Communications minister Dina Pule said on Wednesday that the set-top boxes that will be subsidised for poorer households will get a “return path” to provide basic Internet access. She made the announcement at the department of communications’ ICT Indaba in Cape Town.

South Africans will be required to purchase set-top boxes as the country migrates from analogue to digital terrestrial television.

Government has said it will subsidise 5m of the boxes as part of the migration process. Set-top boxes convert digital signals into analogue ones so that legacy equipment without a digital receiver can still be used.

The SA Communications Forum (SACF), an industry lobby group that has been pushing hard for a return path to be included in the boxes, praised the minister’s decision, saying it would provide Internet access “for the masses of economically marginalised South Africans”.

The SACF contends that the inclusion of Internet access in the set-top box specification requirements is “the best opportunity to bridge the digital divide” and says it wishes to “congratulate the minister for her strong leadership in grasping this once-off opportunity”.

“This decision means that SA, which had been lagging behind in Internet penetration on the continent, will move swiftly ahead in its goals to achieve universal access and ICT competitiveness.”

Pule has not yet provided a reason for her decision or elaborated on the technical specifications of the return path and what impact it might have on the digital migration process.  — (c) 2012 NewsCentral Media

Source: http://www.techcentral.co.za/set-top-boxes-to-get-interet-access/32487/

QEC Website Due for an Upgrade

QEC, one of South Africa's few electronic's manufacturing facilities, has begun the process of updating their website - www.qecmanufacture.co.za.

The new website will provide an improved information resource about QEC services within the electronic's manufacturing industry, including their Set Top Box.

Website visitors can quickly learn all about the company, their services and their dynamic team consisting of engineers and business leaders of the highest calibre.

Why Go DIGITAL?

The benefits of digital TV can be summarised as follows:

Better quality TV

Digital TV – enabled by a Set Top Box (STB) - offers a sharper, brighter picture, with reduced “ghosting” and interference. What’s more, the audio signal is much clearer, so you enjoy improved sound quality.

More choice

Because digital signals take up much less bandwidth than analogue signals, we can broadcast up to 10 television channels in the same bandwidth - giving you the potential of many more channels to choose from.

Government’s Broadcasting Digital Migration Policy encourages more public services channels for youth, women, education and eGovernment services.

For the first time, you will be able to access many free-to-air TV channels that you can select simply by using the remote and the Electronic Programming Guide (EPG).

More access

The secret to universal access lies in the STB that receives the digital signal (which TV sets cannot read) and converts it to an analogue signal for your TV.  

The STB is actually an incredible communications device, in that it has a return path capability and will also have the capability to interface with devices such as a cellphone, memory stick or internet modem. 

This sets the stage for the envisaged implementation of e-government services and access to basic internet services and digital information – a massive benefit for those whose access was formerly limited by distance, physical challenges and cost.

http://www.godigitalsa.co.za/

Testing Lab for Set Top Boxes

The South African Bureau of Standards (SABS) has announced it will set up a laboratory to test Set-Top-Boxes before they go to market. Speaking at the ICT Indaba in Cape Town, SABS chairperson, Bahle Sibisi, announced the lab would be running by October.

Sibisi noted that the lab would enable SME’s to participate effectively in the manufacturing process. Earlier this year, the SABS released draft manufacturing standards for public comment. The SABS has now released final standards as SA works towards migrating from analogue to digital broadcasting.

Sibisi noted that the published standards was chosen as it allows for a broad base of people to access services. SA has adopted the DVB-T2 standard and has set a September 2012 deadline to kick-off Digital Terrestrial Television services.

Source: http://saitnews.co.za/e-government/testing-boxes-2/

Set-Top-Box RFP in Two Weeks

The Department of Communications says it will issue a Request For Proposal (RFP) for Set-Top-Box manufacturing in two weeks.

Speaking at a media briefing at the ICT Indaba in Cape Town, Communications DG, Rosey Sekese said the manufacturing process would kick-off once all processes were concluded.

Sekese noted that while the DOC would subsidise STBs for poorer households – the final cost of the STBS would be determined by market competition and the RFP process.

Earlier this year, the South African Bureau of Standards (SABS) released draft manufacturing standards for STBs for public comment. The standards body has now released final standards for the digital migration process.

SA has adopted the DVB-T2 standard and has a September deadline for the availability of Digital Terrestrial Television (DTT) services.

Source http://saitnews.co.za/e-government/weeks/

Statement on the launch of the SABS Set Top Box standard at the ICT Indaba in Cape Town.

06 June 2012

Thank you for your presence.

I'd like to express my appreciation of the relationship we have. We view the media as one of our key stakeholders in this government's efforts to transform our society.

Indeed, we shall stop at nothing in ensuring that our citizens' lives are progressively improved.

We have to feed off this incredible energy generated by the conversations we have had over the past two and a half days. All the building blocks that we need to build a prosperous society are in place.

The world and our continent, in particular, have humbled us with their willingness to share their experiences and best practices. We have also shared our learnings from the formative years of our democracy.

This conference has strengthened our resolve to investing in developmental infrastructure. This infrastructure has to be delivered in partnership with the private sector.

Universal access to infrastructure will enable governments to deliver e-services of high quality such as e-health and e-education to rural areas.

The two Inter-Ministerial meetings have highlighted the need to address education challenges from primary schools up to tertiary levels. These are the areas that we’ll focus our energies on in relation to e-learning.

This conference also highlighted the need to harness Africa's human capital in technology to fast track socio-economic development and economic growth. An investment in developing people will result in greater innovation. We have to find our own solutions to the developmental challenges we face. Of course, we have chosen to do so in partnership with Africa and the rest of the world.

This is the context through which we should view the launch of the Set Top Box standard today. It is one of the milestones that we have reached in the broadcasting digital migration process.

Thank Chairperson of the SA Bureau of Standards, Bahle Sibisi and your team.

The standard is the latest demonstration of this government’s commitment to ensuring that the digital migration process starts later this year.

The launch of the standard also helps us to answer the question that many people have been asking about our ability to meet the targets for delivering Digital Terrestrial Television. My answer is that we are on track.

Through this standard, we are inviting local manufactures to be innovative, within this framework, to deliver decoders that will improve the television experience of our citizens.

We have always insisted that we want our products to compete with the best in the world.

Other milestones of this conference include the initiation of the process to close the gap between policy development and input from stakeholders, particularly SMEs and business.

At the plenary and at the Inter Ministerial meetings, we have identified the regulatory bottlenecks that we need to eliminate if we are to extract the maximum benefit from the use of technology to improve the quality of life of poor people in the developing world.

Harmonising ICT policies and regulations in the continent is the first step in encouraging innovation that will boost the economy and benefit the poor and SMEs.

As we march towards achieving a prosperous information society and knowledge economy, we need to be mindful of the challenges that could derail our efforts.

Two such challenges are cybercrime and the high cost to communication in the continent.

Access to broadband is meaningless if it is not affordable to the majority who are willing to use it.

We are concerned about the high cost to communication, in particularly international roaming costs.

We need to find ways to lower these costs because they can hinder development.

Industries such as Business Process Outsourcing can flourish in the continent if we work hard to create an enabling market environment for it.

Tomorrow, we shall issue a Statement of Intent from the ministers who have gathered here over the past two and a half days.

That statement will elaborate on the points I have made and all other areas we have discussed.

Thank you.