Delays hike budget for digital TV R1.5bn more needed as poverty escalates
THE BUDGET that the Treasury has set aside for the rollout of set-top boxes to poor households during the digital migration period is set to escalate by more than R1.5 billion.
This comes as the Department of Communications battles with the increasing number of people who have fallen into the eligibility bracket in South Africa.
Business Report has been reliably told that the number of 5million households that are to benefit from free set-top boxes was calculated on the basis of the 2001 census, and this has since risen dramatically as a result of the depressed economic conditions which have thrown more people into poverty.
One of the key drafters of the policy said the figure was based on the number of households with a combined income of R3 200 a month.
But since then, currency fluctuations, retrenchments and the increase in population size has forced policymakers to revise the figure to at least 6.3 million.
The information on the exact number of households who are to benefit from the free set-top boxes has been closely guarded by the Department of Communications, which still insists that it is working with the 5 million figure.
The escalation of the number of beneficiaries could open the process to even more shady dealing and leave certain households with more than one set-top box.
“The current statistics that are being used are outdated and were based on a three-year horizon that South Africa would be one of the first countries to migrate,” said one of the key drafters of the policy.
“Since then we have lost at least five years of time and we are still far behind schedule and that means added costs.”
Another drafter, who actually negotiated the country’s postponement of its migration obligations in the UN, said the initial projection was that a set-top box would cost R700 at the time but did not take into account changes.
He said the government had adopted an improved second generation of set-top boxes that had been embraced by the southern African region at the time. “The delay in digital migration has been costly for South Africa and the impact would only be felt when the roll-out of the programme begins,” he said.
“It will not be based on the figures that could have been relevant in 2012 when we all thought we were near the migration process.”
components
Beneficiaries
price Last week Universal Service and Access Agency of SA (Usaasa) chairwoman Pumla Radebe reportedly confirmed the increase in the number of targeted set-top box beneficiaries during a briefing with industry players.
At least three people who were part of that meeting said the Radebe had told a breakfast briefing by a newspaper owned by the Guptas that the figures needed to be reviewed given the current economic realities.
Usaasa chief executive Zami Nkosi and spokesman Sipho Mngqibisa were not available for comment.
If Usaasa wins in its attempts to lobby the government, the Treasury would then need to spend at least R4bn to subsidise the poor households – R1.6bn more that the budget estimates.
A manufacturer, who was part of last week’s briefing, claimed that an average set-top box would cost about R650, the figure accepted by the policymaker as realistic given the escalation of components in the industry.
Insisted
He said Communications Minister Faith Muthambi had insisted that the 5 million households figure was correct, and that it would be used in the roll-out as planned.
“The minister is working on outdated information and there is not evidence that even that information was correct,” said the manufacturer. “We have tried to sensitise her to the economic conditions but she only listens to her close advisers.”
But Muthambi’s spokesman Mishack Molakeng yesterday insisted that the number of eligible households had not escalated in the past few years.
“Currently we are working on a figure of 5 million qualifying indigent households, with allocated R2.4bn from the National Treasury,” he said.