MTN, a South African telco, has taken regulator ICASA (Independent Communications Authority of South Africa) to court over its plans for an upcoming 5G spectrum auction. Mobile Telephone Networks (MTN), formerly M-Cell and which also controls Verizon’s Business SA company, started its action by stating that ICASA’s decision to auction off the nation’s 3.5 GHz […]
e.tv, the South African broadcaster and a division of eMedia Investments, says that the country’s ICASA regulator’s plans to sell off terrestrial spectrum will damage its free-to-air business. e.tv has joined a lawsuit with Telkom, a major South African telco and broadband supplier, to request that the high court places a hold on ICASA’s scheme. […]
South Africa is looking to charge users a full television licence fee if they view programming on their phones or laptops. The plan includes viewing of OTT content from the likes of Netflix. Public comments have until February 15th to be logged. One public forum, ‘Dear South Africa’, says it has already logged 34,000 comments […]
South Africa is some ten years late in completing its digital switchover (DSO) from analogue TV. Now it seems the conversion will take even longer. Local reports say that the nation’s president, Cyril Ramaphosa, and the country’s communications Minister, Stella Ndabeni-Abrahams, have now agreed to a new target date of March 2023 to wrap up […]
South Africa’s DStv is now streaming most of its DTH channels on up to four devices. Catch-Up content is also available to users. The streamed channels and programmes are available via a connected device and do not need decoders or a satellite signal. “DStv streaming allows for existing and new customers to conveniently access content […]
South Africa is planning a 30 per cent local production demand on Netflix and other OTT services in the country including Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV+ and Showmax. Collin Mashile, the country’s chief director of broadcasting policy, commented: “Everything that they show to South Africans in terms of their catalogue, 30 per cent of that […]
South Africa’s public broadcaster, SABC, is going ahead with plans to stream content to citizens. On October 30th it issued a partial ‘Request for Information’ (RFI) to some key potential suppliers for the sort of technical support that would be needed ahead of a launch of an OTT service to rival Netflix and Showmax. SABC […]
South Africa’s government is supporting moves to build and launch its own satellite for broadband and internet. The proposal comes in a report from the ‘Africa in Focus 2020’ study backed by the Brookings Institute and its Fourth Industrial Commission (4IR). South Africa’s president Cyril Ramaphosa has already endorsed the idea, and says it would […]
Financially troubled South Africa Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) in an attempt to cut costs has talked of reducing its staff numbers by about 600. The news saw staff and labour unions talk of a “full blown strike” at the national broadcaster. A letter sent to all members of staff on October 19th and quoted in the […]
South Africa’s government is contemplating opening up the country’s broadcasting rules. The idea is to permit foreign ownership – or at least shareholdings – in the nation’s broadcasting services. The government’s draft policy framework White Paper covers audio as well as audio-visual services. South Africa’s Department of Communications & Digital Technologies says that foreign ownership […]