The South African government confirmed DVB-T2 this morning as the digital television standard that South Africa will be using moving forward in the process of migital migration to digital terrestrial television (DTT).
After suddenly backtracking on its 2006 decision for DVB-T (DVB-T2 is the second generation standard already), the South African government suddenly caused big uncertainty in the entire South African television industry by saying that it's also considering the Brazilian ISDB-T standard after being approached by Brazilian lobby groups. But why did the South African department of communications choose to eventually reaffirm its decision for its original digital TV standard choice and in fact the 2nd generation, upgraded standard of that?
''Of the 14 SADC countries, 12 countries agreed to the adoption of DVB-T2 as a common standard for the region,'' says Roy Padayachie, South Africa's minister of communications. ''DVB-T2 is approximately 50% more spectrum efficient than DVB-T and ISDB-T. Approximately 8 to 10 channels can be accommodated in a DVB-T multiplex. Thus 12 to 15 channels could be accommodated in a single DVB-T2 multiplex. DVB-T2 is capable of carrying a HDTV, SDTV and a mobile television multiplex over a single transmission network. ISDB-T is capable of carrying HDTV, SDTV and mobile television channels over a single transmission network,'' says Roy Padayachie.
He also talks about the need to readjust the timeframes for South Africa's digital migration process. According to Roy Padayachie as ''cabinet adopted the preferred standard of DVB-T2, an upgrade of DVB-T and agreed to December 2013 as the new switch-off date'' the South African government is actually looking at the process ''with a view to allow the period between 2013 and 2015 to address any challenge that may arise towards the ITU deadline of 2015.''
Regarding unhappiness in certain quarters of the South African electronics manufacturing industry Roy Padayachie says that the government will ''strive to ensure that we work with everyone involved in this process to ensure a successful and smooth transition to the exciting world of digital television and to use the digital migration process as a catalyst to revitalize the South African electronics manufacturing industry.''
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