Minister dismayed at local content in STBs
18 July 2018
Editor's Choice
News
The Department of Communications issued a statement in which the communications minister, Nomvula Mokonyane, expressed her concern about the lack of adherence to the 30% local content manufacturing rule on the part of some suppliers who manufacture government’s subsidised set-top boxes (STB) which are meant to enable migration from analog to digital television services.
The statement came in response to an ITWeb article which the minister claimed quoted her erroneously as saying that all contracted local manufacturers of government set-top boxes import decoders from abroad. The statement went on to say that “the Department of Communications has learnt that some local manufacturers contracted by state-owned-entity Universal Service and Access Agency of South Africa (USAASA) to manufacture these decoders are procuring non-compliant devices abroad and importing them into country.
“This means that they are in fact contravening the local content quota prescription, which requires them to ensure that at least 30% of all decoder components are produced locally. This undermines government’s efforts to ensure that this project contributes towards boosting the country’s electronics manufacturing sector to stimulate job creation in the sector. Additionally, many of these imported decoders are found to be defective and not compliant with the local standards framework set by the SA Bureau of Standards. This has resulted in decoder recipients having to return them to government’s distribution agent – the SA Post Office.”
There are 27 manufacturing firms contracted by USAASA to produce decoders and antennas for government’s broadcasting digital migration project, at a cost of R4,5 billion. The minister also expressed concern about the cost per unit – government is currently paying R1700 per manufacturing of a single STB, including installation. She described these costs as unsustainable for government and called on public-private partnerships for help in implementing the broadcasting digital migration project.
The department is currently reviewing the implementation plan and the model around the broadcasting digital migration project; this process is set be concluded in the very near future.
For more information visit www.doc.gov.za
Further reading:
From the editor's desk: Is the current AI really what we want?
Technews Publishing
Editor's Choice
The companies that develop LLMs need to change direction and concentrate on freeing up our time, not so that we can have more time to do the tasks we don’t want to do in the first place, but rather to allow us more time to do what we love.
Read more...
When it comes to long-term reliability of RF amplifier ICs, focus first on die junction temperature
Altron Arrow
Editor's Choice Telecoms, Datacoms, Wireless, IoT
When considering the long-term reliability of integrated circuits, a common misconception is that high package or die thermal resistance is problematic. However, high or low thermal resistance, by itself, tells an incomplete story.
Read more...
ICs vs modules: Understanding the technical trade-offs for IoT applications
NuVision Electronics
Editor's Choice DSP, Micros & Memory
As the IoT continues to transform industries, design decisions around wireless connectivity components become increasingly complex with engineers often facing the dilemma of choosing between ICs and wireless modules for their IoT applications.
Read more...
Why bis means business for LTE Cat 1 IoT connections
NuVision Electronics
Editor's Choice Telecoms, Datacoms, Wireless, IoT
Tomaž Petaros, product manager IoT EMEA at Quectel Wireless Solutions explains why the market for Cat 1bis IoT connections is getting busy.
Read more...
Interview with Brian Aziz, vice president of global sales, Iridium
Editor's Choice
ridium is the leading satellite IoT player. Their network consists of 66 active low Earth orbit satellites covering every inch of the globe and are used for IoT and emergency services worldwide.
Read more...
Accelerating AI adoption in MCU manufacturing
Editor's Choice AI & ML
To gain the value of ML functionality, designers of MCU-based devices have to adopt a new development method and accept a new type of probabilistic rather than deterministic output.
Read more...
Altron Arrow: Empowering innovation with STMicroelectronics AI processors
Altron Arrow
Editor's Choice AI & ML
ST’s AI processors are not only smarter and faster, but also incredibly efficient, enabling a new wave of intelligent solutions across multiple industries.
Read more...
The superpower driving the future of low carbon electricity
Editor's Choice
Modularity is a superpower. The advantage lies in smaller units that can be built, tested, refined, adapted, improved repetitively, allowing many experimentation and learning iterations.
Read more...
Eskom’s evolution sparks hope
Editor's Choice
Eskom’s evolution has sparked hope that a large corporation can change and learn to think outside the grid.
Read more...
Potential risks of plasma treatment on PCBs
MyKay Tronics
Editor's Choice
Plasma treatment involves exposing PCBs to an ionised gas, known as plasma, but despite many advantages, several risks must be managed to ensure safe and effective plasma application in EMS.
Read more...
printer friendly version