| New moves to tackle 2010 Internet scams - 11/11/2008 |
A new e-mail scam is doing the rounds, purporting to be part of a lottery programme for the 2010 World Cup. The SA Police Service (SAPS) has launched a Web site to warn the public about 419 scams, including those relating to the 2010 World Cup. SAPS special investigating unit head Leon Engelbrecht said that 419 scams are predominantly being perpetrated over the Internet. Security software vendor Symantec has warned of the emergence of 419 scam spam related to the 2010 World Cup. Global cybercrime expert Eugene Kaspersky warns that the World Cup could amplify the problem. ’Hackers use many different types of popular events and people to spread their malicious programs. The 2010 World Cup is just another example of how to lure victims.’
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Full report on the Project 2010 site
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| Motorola embarks on ambitious 2010 project - 07/11/2008 |
Motorola, has embarked on an ambitious commercial project for the 2010 World Cup, which seeks to keep the Universal Mobile Telecommunications Systems (UMTS) specifications competitive. Several speakers from Motorola said the emergence of packet-based wireless broadband systems such as WiMAX802.16e, were clear answers to both radio and television network advancement ahead of the 2010 World Cup. According to an IT News Africa report, the exciting prospect about Motorola is that the WiMAX and LTE are well positioned to drive the global evolution towards pervasive wireless broadband communications with market acceptance, rich ecosystems, and promising economies of scale.
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Full IT News Africa report
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| EES awarded airport contract - 06/11/2008 |
Electrical Engineering Solutions (EES) has been awarded the contract to project manage the design, co-ordination and implementation of all Information and Communication Technology (ICT) services at the new integrated terminal at Cape Town International Airport. IT Online reports that the substantial contract - which involves 25 systems providing services to about 120 stakeholders - is up against the tight deadline of being completed before the World Cup in mid-2010. MD Bradley Hemphill says EES’s skills set and track record on mega projects was instrumental in the Airports Company of South Africa’s (ACSA) decision to contract the firm’s professional services.
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Full IT Online report
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| Broadcasting moves into the digital era - 30/10/2008 |
South African broadcasting makes a historic move into the digital era. Communications Minister Dr Ivy Matsepe-Cassaburi has switched on the digital signal for the entire country. The SABC reports that South Africa will be moving from analogue broadcasting to a digital platform. People with older television sets will have to obtain a new set-top box (STB) for analogue-digital conversion. With the switch on, South Africa will join a few leading countries in the world that have started the digital migration process and it will also place the country well ahead in respect of meeting one of our broadcasting guarantees for the 2010 World Cup. The government approved a policy in August that involves subsidising set-top boxes for 7.5 million poorer households. The analogue sets will continue to function until November 2011.
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Full SABC report
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| SABC sets the record straight - 25/10/2008 |
The move by the SABC to go to digital signals by 2011 has caused some confusion The move by the SABC to go to digital signals by 2011 has caused some confusion in the marketplace, with many consumers who believe it will be HD broadcasting and they will need to buy HD-capable televisions in future. ’The SABC’s digital move makes no difference to the picture quality,’ said Brad Buchanan, group buyer at Game. ’Broadcasters benefit because digital signals make better use of their bandwidth, enabling more channels to be viewed.’ According to a MyADSL.co.za report, the move to digital signals will have significant benefits for South African viewers, because it will be possible for the SABC to offer more channels. There is no word yet on whether any of the new channels will be HD, but it is a possibility, in particular for the World Cup broadcast in 2010.
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Full MyADSL.co.za report
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| A closer look at HDTV - 20/10/2008 |
Imagine watching a sporting event and being able to see the sweat trickling down the faces of the players. This no longer has to be a dream as the reality, in the form of high-definition television (HDTV), is here. Andre Coetzee, national trainer and customer care consultant at Philips South Africa, said that anyone who has been in the market recently to buy a new television will have heard the term HDTV. According to a MyADSL.co.za report, he said while South Africa may often be behind in terms of technology , as the World Cup Soccer host for 2010 it is being forced to fast forward a little. This is because international markets require that the main broadcaster be able to transmit the games in both standard and high definition.
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Full MyADSL.co.za report
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| Raising awareness ahead of 2010 - 17/10/2008 |
Concerns have been raised that child pornography site users and sex offenders may slip through unnoticed to prey on the youth of South Africa when soccer fever hits with an influx of foreign tourists in 2010. Advocate Iyavar Chetty of the Film and Publications Board said it was important to raise public awareness that South Africa did not have an effective regulatory system to monitor pornography sites and sex offenders to match those of international counterparts, particularly European countries. The Cape Argus reports that the board hosted a workshop to discuss various concerns and developments regarding child pornography and related offences. Chetty said there were concerns that many entering the country for the World Cup may not be interested in the football, even though the world focus would be on the games.
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Full Cape Argus report
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| $24m for Rwanda’s broadband network - 07/10/2008 |
The World Bank has announced that it has approved $24m for a program that will see Rwanda develop her national capacity to provide broadband connectivity. The money that was cleared through an International Development Association financing grant for the Regional Communication Infrastructure Program - Rwanda Project , is supposed to increase the availability of broadband to more than 700 Rwandan institutions including schools, health centers and local government administrative centers. IT News reports that once connected it would mean that Rwandans will have the opportunity of benefiting from Seacom’s 1.2Tb bandwidth capacity or the initial capacity of 640Mb from the EASSy project. Both Seacom and EASSy cables aim to be fully operational in time for the 2010 World Cup.
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Full IT News report
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| Looking forward to 2010 - 03/10/2008 |
Durban’s decision to create a world-class broadband Internet network for the use of its citizenry is not a profit-making scheme, said city manager Michael Sutcliffe. Speaking at the Smart City Expo, Sutcliffe said: ’We believe the model must be affordable for all, accessible to all, and be used by all. Looking forward to the 2010 World Cup, a key aspect of our success will depend on an ICT system that really works.’ According to a Daily News report, Sutcliffe said he had every confidence Durban would be ready and waiting for the expected influx of up to 300 000 visitors during the World Cup. ’We are bang on track, and I have no doubt this will be the greatest World Cup ever,’ he said.
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Full Daily News report
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| Soccerex discusses mobile media - 04/10/2008 |
Mobile marketing and broadcasting will be a key topic on the agenda at Soccerex 2008. The business-to-business soccer convention and FIFA have put together a panel of senior figures from FIFA, Ericsson and Perform, to discuss the growing importance of alternative communication technologies, says marketing and communications executive for Soccerex, Billy Hunt. ITWeb reports that the panel, entitled Mobile communications in Africa and beyond - the key to reaching fans at the 2010 World Cup, aims to assist SA in developing its mobile media strategy for 2010. The panel will be headed by Niclas Eriscon, the director of the FIFA TV division. He will address the opportunities and importance of fan communication via media platforms for 2010.
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Full ITWeb report
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| Durban launches broadband service - 03/10/2008 |
Durban’s launch of its broadband service, dubbed eThekwini Metroconnect, means the city is speeding ahead to become the first ’smart city’ on the African continent by selling spare broadband capacity on its extensive optic fibre network to business, and ultimately residents, at drastically reduced rates. The Mercury reports that the launch at the SmartCity Conference and Exhibition at the International Convention Centre marked a watershed moment in the history of broadband communication in South Africa. The announcement by Jacquie Subban, head of geographic information and policy in the eThekwini Municipality, comes after the city revealed in August that it had appointed technology giant Dimension Data to manage its optic fibre network. She said the broadband plan would enable all key tourism areas in the city - including the new stadium - to have free wireless internet hotspots for the 2010 World Cup.
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Full report in The Mercury
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| Funding hiccup hampers digital TV process - 30/09/2008 |
Severe funding challenges could result in many South Africans losing out on public digital television when state-owned signal carrier Sentech switches on its digital signal a November. With just over a month left before Sentech’s digital terrestrial television (DTT) signal is due to go live, slow funding from government could hobble the process. In its latest annual report, Sentech said it had received only R500m for the roll- out of its DTT infrastructure and making set- top boxes available.The Business Times reports that DTT was one of the prerequisites for South Africa being awarded the 2010 World Cup. It will allow broadcast signals to be compressed and more channels to be broadcast on the same bandwidth. Eight new video channels can be provided on the same bandwidth that one analogue offers.
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Full Business Times report
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| Telkom denies WC glitches - 23/09/2008 |
Failure in transmission - which could cut off a large chunk of football lovers around the world - is the worst-case scenario, especially with the world football governing body’s repeated warning that the tournament will be used to test the country’s readiness for 2010. And with the latest study by the Economist Intelligence Unit released on Monday, indicating that South Africa ranks 37th in the world in the 2008 IT industry competitiveness index, many have reason to worry ahead of the Confederations Cup and the World Cup. But Telkom, the country’s information technology and telecommunications infrastructure service provider, says these fears are unfounded. According to a report on the IoL site, Telkom’s group executive for multinational accounts, Thami Magazi, dismissed the possibility of transmission glitches during the Confederations Cup and 2010 World Cup. The company, he maintained, was way ahead in the installation of the entire infrastructure that will enable the broadcasting capacity for both tournaments.
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Full report on the IoL site
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| Blatter allays 2010 fears - 15/09/2008 |
With the pending change in government administration causing jitters among some, FIFA president Sepp Blatter is in the country to allay fears around the country’s World Cup preparations and preparedness, including those related to ICT. According to Blatter: ’The objective of this visit is to assure the whole country of FIFA’s 100% commitment and trust (in) the organisational capability of the country.’ ITWeb reports that ICT is one of the areas he believes are on track as far as preparations are concerned, although he hopes to get more insight into the ICT situation in the coming few days.
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Full ITWeb report
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| Sentech short on funds - 15/09/2008 |
Sentech, the state-owned commercial enterprise that styles itself as a leader in converging communications technologies, is not receiving enough state support to carry out its job, it complains in its annual report. In the annual report for 2007/08, Sentech says that the communications department requires it to construct and make available wireless broadband infrastructure including to schools, health centres, government offices and post offices while bridging the digital divide. But chairman Colin Hickling complains that after a profitable period from the late 1990s to the early years of this decade, Sentech’s financial position has deteriorated ’significantly’. According to Business Report, he says the primary focus of the first pillar is to upgrade and maintain the signal infrastructure as well as to digitise the terrestrial television network and provide satellite services in time for the 2010 World Cup.
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Full story in Business Report
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| 2010 expected to boost Internet usage - 15/09/2008 |
The 2010 World Cup could be the event that makes Internet adoption ubiquitous in SA. Telecom traffic or Internet usage could rise by as much as 25% over the course of the event. According to a MyADSL.co.za report, this trend will be spurred by demand for mobile TV broadcasting to cellphones and the possible viewing of TV over the Internet, says William Hahn, an analyst at technology research group Gartner. If the Beijing Olympic Games are anything to go by, global sporting events like the World Cup will continue to be a big driver of Internet usage. ’The growth rate for applications such as downloads, messaging traffic and highlight viewing is staggering,’ he says.
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Full MyADSL.co.za report
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| 2010 ICT plans on track - 12/09/2008 |
Government’s faith in Telkom to provide the necessary ICT capacity demanded by FIFA for the 2010 World Cup seems likely to pay off. There has been concern about whether Telkom can provide world-class ICT infrastructure to support the multi million rand International Broadcasting Centre (IBC), a 30 000 mē media nerve centre, to be built in Nasrec, Johannesburg. The Financial Mail reports that all broadcast transmissions from the World Cup stadiums, and distribution will be facilitated through the IBC 24 hours a day for 10 weeks. Arthur Goldstuck, CEO of World Wide Worx, believes Telkom has the technical capability and resources to meet the FIFA requirements. ’They may have compromised quality when it comes to consumers but the technical capability and taste and sophistication of the required infrastructure will be up when we host the World Cup,’ he says.
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Full Financial Mail report
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| E-Tourism conference a hit - 11/09/08 |
Africa’s first international e-tourism conference was held last week in Johannesburg. More than 250 delegates attended the E-Tourism Southern Africa conference and training seminars, including delegates from South Africa, Botswana, Namibia, Swaziland and Lesotho. The conference, which was sponsored by FNB Bank, Microsoft, Visa International and the Johannesburg Tourism Company had more than 27 speakers and presentations, including eight international speakers, many of who were presenting in Africa for the first time. It was announced at the conference that Johannesburg will be the host city for the E Tourism Pan African conference, which will take place next year. Johannesburg Tourism Company CEO Lindiwe Mahlangu, said she was delighted that Johannesburg had been selected. ’We want to show Africa and the rest of the world that Johannesburg will be ICT prepared for the FIFA 2010 World Cup’. One of the highlights of the conference was a presentation from Adam Brown of MATCH, the official travel partners of FIFA.
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http://www.travelwires.com/wp/?p=2473
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| SA gears up for digital TV migration - 11/09/08 |
As part of its preparations for the 2010 FIFA World Cup Finals, South Africa plans to migrate from analog to digital broadcasting technology for television. In his keynote address at the 12th edition of Highway Africa Conference, Radhakrishna Roy Padayachie, South Africa’s Deputy Communications minister announced that the government is currently initiating a programme to facilitate the transition from analog to digital signals. ’Although South Africa is the only country in the continent able to broadcast a digital signal, it still has a lot to do before 2010 when the broadcast must be digital,’ he said. As things stand, the country is already running behind schedule. According to the Southern African Digital Broadcasting Association (SADIBA), the first roll-out should have commenced at the latest by 2003. The analog services should gradually be reduced to termination by 2012.
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Full Business Day Africa report
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| State seeks cutting-edge ICT advice - 08/09/08 |
Appointments, including a raft of advisers to the government, are due to be made to help SA utilise information and communication technology (ICT) more effectively. The announcement follows a three-day meeting between President Thabo Mbeki and his Presidential International Advisory Council on Information Society and Development which ended in Hoedspruit, Limpopo, on Sunday. The meeting focused on developments and trends in ICT and reviewed progress in areas such as e-government, education and health. Briefing journalists, Mbeki said yesterday that SA had made some progress in the provision of ICT to South Africans. Now, he said, ’as government, service providers and operators we need to look into innovative approaches to expand connectivity in rural areas’. Also discussed during the meeting was the country’s readiness to host the 2010 World Cup. SA was expected to spend between R2bn and R5bn on ICT infrastructure needed for the games.
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Full Business Day report
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| HDTV for 2010? - 27/08/2008 |
The Communications Department has clarified the technology commitments it made to help SA host the 2010 World Cup, saying it never promised that local viewers would enjoy watching the games in a much sharper digital format. It would not be breaking any guarantees if local viewers were still not connected to the high-definition television (HDTV) format by 2010, the department’s spokesperson Joe Makhafola said. Business Day reports that the department was responding after Gartner analyst Will Hahn said SA had an obligation to broadcast the games in HDTV format, but warned that most local viewers would miss out. Broadcasting to local viewers in HDTV was not part of the core 2010 guarantees to FIFA, Makhafola said, as its commitment was to provide infrastructure for the international transmission of HDTV, not to ensure that local viewers benefited. But even if local consumers were not enjoying terrestrial digital broadcasts by 2010 they could still access the newer technology by subscribing to satellite services, he said.
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Full Business Day report
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| Security: Important 2010 role for CCTV - 24/08/2008 |
The 216 CCTV cameras operational in the inner city and along some freeways are fighting crime and lawlessness, says the Johannesburg Metropolitan Police Department (JMPD). Spokesman chief superintendent Wayne Minnaar says city surveillance cameras monitored 291 incidents of crime in July, leading to 81. The city is boosting the size of the JMPD and plans to have about 4 000 officers on patrol duties by June 2010, when Johannesburg will host part of the World Cup.
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Full Moneyweb report
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| Web tourism takes off in SA - 22/08/2008 |
As Southern Africa prepares for the 2010 World Cup, it is vital that the tourism sector is prepared to market its products to global standards, including the use of the Web. According to a Business Report, global tourism sales have predominantly shifted online, with almost R778bn annual sales making travel the number one selling commodity online. While the Internet is now the leading source of travel information, almost no African tourism is sold online. Booking African destinations on the Web can be a real challenge. An emerging divide between Africa and global markets threatens tourism to the continent. This imbalance is addressed by E-Tourism Africa, a new initiative to develop African tourism online.
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Full story in Business Report
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| 2010 could lower cost of services - 21/08/2008 |
Hosting the 2010 World Cup will speed up the provision of massive bandwidth in South Africa and should bring down the price of telecoms services, an industry analyst predicted. Will Hahn, a principal analyst at international IT consultancy Gartner, Inc, told a symposium in Cape Town that the Fifa requirement for high definition television had major implications for South Africa’s telecoms infrastructure. ’HDTV is the most bandwidth hungry, the most powerful application of television that you can have today,’ Hahn said. The Times reports that South Africans themselves were unlikely to be able to watch 2010 on HDTV, ’but the broadcast itself will be HDTV capable and that has implications for the broadcasting infrastructure.’ Hahn said the big screens at fan parks would be an ideal opportunity to introduce South Africans to HDTV. ’It really is an extraordinary medium.’
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Full report in The Times
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| Massive bandwidth opportunity for SA - 20/08/2008 |
Hosting the 2010 World Cup will speed up the provision of massive bandwidth in South Africa and should bring down the price of telecoms services, an industry analyst predicted. According to a MyADSL.co.za report, Will Hahn, a principal analyst at international IT consultancy Gartner, Inc, said that the FIFA requirement for high definition television had major implications for South Africa’s telecoms infrastructure. ’HDTV is the most bandwidth hungry, the most powerful application of television that you can have today,’ Hahn said. South Africans themselves were unlikely to be able to watch 2010 on HDTV, ’but the broadcast itself will be HDTV capable and that has implications for the broadcasting infrastructure.’
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Full MyADSL.co.za report
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| IT skills shortage for 2010 - 19/08/2008 |
With recent statistics reflecting that at least 115 000 additional IT jobs will be required in the lead up to the 2010 World Cup - and no hope in sight of the country injecting anywhere near these kind of numbers - overall communications at the event could be compromised. This is according to Karen Geldenhuys, MD of ICT-focused recruitment company, Abacus Recruitment, who said that ’not much attention’ had been paid to this skills shortage. ’Billions of people will be watching the event, and tens of thousands of people will be attending. The seamless functioning of technology is going to be critical. This anticipated skills shortage,’ she says, ’is a real worry.’ According to a MyADSL.co.za report, she adds that the country is going to require additional people with PC skills, software and hardware support skills - as well as networking skills.
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Full MyADSL.co.za report
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| Sufficient bandwidth for 2010? - 15/08/2008 |
South Africa does not have enough bandwidth to meet the 2010 guarantees. This is however said to change because Telkom is due to increase the capability of its undersea cables. IT News reports that Rosey Sekese, deputy director-general for ICT infrastructure said the progress being made in getting the country ready for the 2010 World Cup. She said that they need to ensure broadcast signals can be transmitted from stadiums to international broadcast centres. Telkom will have the required capacity installed by next year for the Confederation Cup. Broadcast signals will be sent through Telkom’s SAT-3 cable on the west coast and its South Africa Far East Cable that runs out of Durban. Telkom is said to make its own satellite facilities available.
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Full IT News report
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| Cable to be launched in time for 2010 - 14/08/2008 |
Mauritius-registered private equity venture SEACOM said a fibre optic undersea cable linking east Africa to Europe and Asia would be launched in June 2009, in time for the 2010 World Cup. According to a report on the IoL site, the company said it would start laying the $650m cable, which is needed to provide high-speed Internet access and spur investment, in October this year. The 15 000 km cable will wind around the east of the continent between South Africa and Egypt, then on to Mumbai in India and Marseille in France. The group will start connecting sections of the cable in April 2009.
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Full report in the IoL site
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| U-turn on mobile TV welcomed - 11/08/2008 |
Minister of communications Ivy Matsepe-Casaburri last week backtracked on her policy directive that the government would license one company to provide a mobile TV network, declaring that there would be more than one licence holder. If there had been only one network provider, which was expected to be Sentech, all companies wishing to enter the market would have been forced to go through that company. David Moore, a media analyst at Africa Analysis, said this limitation would have eventually created a monopoly similar to the one faced until recently by the pay television market. The news will be a relief to companies such as MultiChoice, which has plans to have its mobile TV service available before the 2010 Fifa World Cup. The service could be a new money spinner for the pay television operator. MultiChoice has been running mobile TV trials for the past two years, in partnership with Sentech and cellphone operators such as MTN. According to Business Report, MultiChoice has so far launched the service commercially in Nigeria and Kenya.
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Full story in Business Report
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| Government to spend millions on digital TV - 08/08/2008 |
South Africa will spend about R2.45bn on subsidising the shift to digital television for five million poor households by 2011, the government said. Africa’s biggest economy also confirmed it would meet a November 2008 deadline for switching on digital broadcasting, well ahead of the 2010 World Cup. The analogue system will be switched off in November 2011. According to a report on the IoL site, the government said it would pay about 70% of the set-top box, which will be available in 2009 and which is needed for access to digital television. About 7.5m South African households have television sets. About 6% of those are already linked to satellite television.
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Full report on the IoL site
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