Parliament has heard that the manufacture and procurement of set-top boxes – which will be required when digital migration occurs – has been halted pending the conclusion of the legal battle over the non-encryption of the converters. A Business Day report says the Universal Services and Access Agency of SA (Usaasa) – which is implementing the digital migration process – addressed a joint meeting of Parliament's Communications Committee.

The agency said it had decided to ‘err on the side of caution’ and suspend the manufacture and procurement of new set-top boxes until the Constitutional Court has ruled on the validity of an alteration to the Broadcasting Digital Migration Policy, which states that state-subsidised set-top boxes should not be capable of encrypting broadcasting signals.

The alteration was introduced by Communications Minister Faith Muthambi and was contested by e.tv, which won its case in the SCA in May. However, Muthambi – who also addressed the committee – told the MPs the migration process would continue with the boxes that are already available, despite the Usaasa decision. Muthambi accused the Usaasa board of ‘doing things without engaging the Ministry’. The SCA had not interdicted the rollout of the digital migration process, she said.

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