Technology

15 years late, and no end in sight for South Africa’s failed switch-off

Staff Writer

 ·8 Sep 2026

Minister of Communications and Digital Technologies Solly Malatsi says South Africa’s much-delayed analogue switch-off has been suspended indefinitely.

The analogue switch-off refers to the final date when South Africa will fully switch off analogue broadcasts for digital television.

The country aimed to have 80% digital TV signal coverage in time for the 2010 FIFA World Cup, which kicked off on 11 June that year.

Total switch-off of South Africa’s analogue TV signal would have followed on 1 November 2011. This never happened.

Instead, South Africa has suffered through 16 long years of constant court and regulatory battles over the process, with missed deadlines, delays, and at least nine different ministers attempting to get it through.

After missing the November 2011 deadline, South Africa then missed the 17 June 2015 International Telecommunication Union deadline to switch to digital broadcasting.

At the time, it set a ‘final’ date set for March 2022. This was again delayed, and the department then set a deadline of 30 June 2022 for South Africa’s analogue switch-off.

However, this was declared irrational and unlawful by the Constitutional Court in a successful bid by broadcaster, E-tv.

Over the decade of dithering, communication networks and broadcast services deteriorated as both operators and broadcasters encroached on each other’s spectrum to provide services.

There appeared to be a breakthrough in 2023, when the DCDT under former Minister Mondli Gungubele gazetted a “final” timeline for the termination.

This was partially achieved with the successful switch-off of analogue services above the 694 MHz band in July 2023.

However, the “final” deadline of 31 December 2024 suffered the same fate as those that came before.

In January 2025, the new DCDT Minister in the Government of National Unity (GNU), Solly Malatsi, requested that parliament postpone the 31 December 2024 deadline.

This came after the SABC and eMedia raised concerns that the deadline would leave many people without access to critical information broadcast.

He received the committee’s approval to postpone the deadline to 31 March 2025. However, that target was also suspended by the High Court, a few days before the deadline.

Currently, the analogue switch-off process remains temporarily suspended.

In its annual performance plan, the department said it required a reassessment of the broadcasting migration timeline.

Responding to a parliamentary Q&A this past week about the switch-off, Malatsi said that, since the High Court ruling of March 2025, no new switch-off date has been set.

“The Department is currently engaging with relevant stakeholders to ensure a smooth finalisation of the matter in light of the court ruling referred to,” he said.

November 2026 will mark the 15th year since the first deadline for the switch-off.

The table below details the long list of target dates and delays on this journey.