South Africa’s Communications Ministry insists that it will switch off analogue TV in June.  Earlier this week the South African cabinet approved the scheme to issue low-cost (and in some 5 million cases free) set-top boxes needed to receive the new digital TV signals.

Communications Minister Faith Muthambi, at a press briefing, that the boxes would also decode the encrypted signals which was in place to protect the government’s investment.

The inclusion of conditional access has been a bone of contention locally, with many complaints as to why encryption is needed. The Minister said it was in place to ensure that the set-top boxes could not be used outside South Africa.

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