The delayed start and slow process of Africa’s move to digital terrestrial television (DTT) could see many countries only complete their digital migration by 2020, Informa Telecoms & Media Group senior research analyst Thecla Mbongue said at the recent Digital TV conference.

She said that the switchover from analogue television (TV) to DTT was, in general, a lengthy process that was weighed down by heavy bureaucracy and set-top box (STB) uncertainty.

While many African countries had “advanced” their digital TV ambitions, it was expected that Africa’s switchover would remain under major regulatory devel- opment for the next five years, despite an International Telecom- munications Union-agreed ana- logue switch-off date of 2015.

Further, uncertainty surrounding the STB subsidies and affordability needed to be dealt with. The uncertainty surrounding the manufacture of the decoders and conditional access control, particularly for South Africa, was also highlighted by many delegates at the conference.

South Africa aimed to complete its digital migration by mid-2015 after several delays; however, the Department of Communications and several stakeholders, including State-owned broadcaster the South African Broadcasting Corporation, had yet to agree on conditional access control of the subsidised STBs, and the tender for the manufacture of the decoders had yet to be awarded.

Nevertheless, despite Africa’s slow migration, significant opportunities for Africa had emerged – whether the migration was completed or not – she commented.

While international broadcasters still had a strong share of Africa’s content market, an increased focus was turning to local players producing local content relevant to individual countries.

She noted that, with the increas- ing number of TV viewers on the continent, the potential and need for new, relevant content for African consumers were growing.

Local soap operas and TV programmes in local languages were becoming the fastest-growing content demand and, with increased mobile TV interest, much of this African content was reaching international shores.

However, despite significant potential to drive growth in the TV market, as only 25% of 190-million households in sub-Saharan Africa had TVs, the continent would not see a “big soar” in the short term, owing to affordability and access challenges.

Mbongue said forecasts had indicated that, owing to affordability and access, millions of Africans would have their first video experience through broadband-enabled phones, as opposed to TVs or computers.