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Electronic Communications Act, 2005 (Act No. 36 of 2005)

ICASA

Final Radio Frequency Spectrum Assignment Plan for the Frequency Band 470 to 694 MHz

3. General

 

4.1 South Africa adopted the DVB-T2 broadcast transmission standard for implementation. This said standard is a DVB European-based Consortium standard adopted by the ITU and its radio Regulations.

 

4.2 All installations to be used for purposes of transmission with the said standard must comply with safety rules as specified in applicable standards. A further requirement will be that any equipment that will be used for purposes of transmission with the said standard shall be required to obtain certification under South African laws and Regulations.

 

4.3 The assignment of the frequency band 470 to 694 MHz and the channel arrangement as outlined in Annexure J of the Terrestrial Broadcasting Frequency Plan, 2013 as updated in 2014, provides that the Terrestrial Broadcast Frequency Plan, 2013 does not allow for a direct migration from analogue to digital television but rather for a two-stage process which will first allow analogue television to be transmitted in parallel with DTT and thereafter there will be a restacking process of frequencies to release the digital dividend (694 to 862 MHz);

 

4.4 The said plan has however been overtaken by events since the deadline for analogue switch-off passed on 17 June 2015, and

 

4.5 furthermore, the analogue and digital assignments above 694 MHz are no longer protected and have been suppressed from the ITU-R MIFR.

 

4.6 In order to eliminate interference to existing analogue transmissions during the dual illumination period there must be frequency changes required to DTT frequencies within the band 470 to 694 MHz before analogue switch-off.

 

4.7 Analogue switch-off also applies to Analogue Terrestrial Broadcast Self-Help stations ("Self-Help stations") which, in most cases, will have to migrate to Direct to Home (DTH) as there will not be DTT available in these areas including the provisions for Self-Help stations. Analogue switch-off for Self-Help stations shall be implemented in accordance with the provisions in section 2.4 on Self-Help stations in the Terrestrial Broadcasting Frequency Plan, 2013.

 

4.8 The requirement for the migration of Studio Transmitter Links within the 800 MHz band need to migrate immediately out of the band.as per Terrestrial Broadcast Frequency Plan, 2013, the Radio Frequency Migration Plan 2019 and the NFRP 2018.

 

4.9 The Authority has studied SFN’s which are registered with the ITU in the Radiocommunications Bureau (BR) International Frequency Information Circular (BRIFIC) database and noticed that numerous of them similar to the size of SFN’s in the South African BRIFIC entries.