South Africans from the poorer households will now receive set-top boxes “that will have a return path” to provide basic Internet access, says South Africa’s communications minister Dina Pule.
Users in South Africa will have to purchase set-top boxes as they migrate from analogue to digital terrestrial television.
Set-top boxes convert digital signals into analogue ones thus enabling the legacy equipment without a digital receiver to still be used.
South Africa Communications Forum (SACF) has been pushing for set-top boxes to come with “return path.”
The SACF is an industry lobby group that believes including the return path in the set-top boxes would provide Internet access “for the masses of economically marginalized South Africans”.
“This decision means that the country, 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.” SACF said.
According to the forum, this the best opportunity to bridge the digital divide.
SACF further praised the minister for her strong leadership in “grasping this once-off opportunity.”
