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Government working to fast track digital migration

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Government says it is working hard to fast track digital migration for the country’s broadcasting industry.

It is a move from analogue technology to newer more efficient digital technology.

Communications Minister Stella Ndabeni-Abrahams says a new model is being developed to spearhead the process.

South Africa’s shift from old-school analogue technology was meant to happen 2015 but the deadline for national migration came and went and now been pushed to July 2020.

Ndabeni-Abrahams says out of the 1.5 million that they advertised a tender for, they have managed to connect about 700.

She says: “We still have about 800 000 boxes that have not yet reached their beneficiaries. On top of that we have about 3.5 million that we have not touched. We are working now on a new model to say what we must do now to fast track the process.”

Ndabeni-Abrahams has also called on the private sector and institutions of higher learning to work with government to help citizens prepare for the 4th Industrial Revolution.

She says the 4th Industrial Revolution will drastically change the way people live, work and relate to one another.

She says 20 million South Africans are still not digitally connected and this is concerning.

“For us to be effective in the 4th Industrial Revolution we have got to co-ordinate and collaborate for effective execution of the 4th Industrial Revolution.”

“Government alone cannot win the battle but most important for the private sector and the industry to thrive, it really needs people who understand how to use its own technologies. Therefore it benefits them to expose people to the technology by giving them the skills to say if I’m selling a cellphone or a tablet, what else can I use it for that can change my economic and social status.”

 

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