China’s Huawei Technologies says digital migration will help Southern Africa “leapfrog” the West in broadcast sophistication, despite switch-over delays in the likes of South Africa and Zambia.

Southern African Development Community (SADC) member states -- which include the likes of South Africa, Botswana, Namibia, Zambia and Zimbabwe -- have set an analogue switch off (ASO) deadline of December 31, 2013 or the 2015 international deadline for digital terrestrial television (DTT) broadcasting migration.

The International Telecommunications Union (ITU) has set the deadline of June 2015 for the DTT switch-over to occur.

Part of the aim of digital migration is to open up frequencies so as to boost the broadband usage. Regional cooperation on the digital switch-over further helps prevent signal disruption of existing analogue usage, while the digital signal also offers a better picture quality.

But doubts exist in SADC nations such as South Africa and Zambia about their ability to meet either the SADC or the ITU digital deadline.

In South Africa, digital television was planned to be switched on in 2012, but was delayed by a court battle over conditional access.

In Zambia, digital migration has stalled as government this year cancelled a $220 million tender amid allegations of irregularities.

Despite these issues, Huawei has expressed optimism regarding digital migration at a three-day ‘SADC Digital Broadcasting Migration Forum’ that gathered government representatives and broadcasters from around the region.

“The Southern African region has a unique opportunity to lead the world in the implementation of digital migration,” said Huawei Technologies vice president of marketing for digital home product lines, David Strehlow (pictured), speaking on the side-lines of the symposium.

“Deploying state-of-the-art technology is vital to ensuring the robustness of the system, but it is equally important to ensure that the right commercial aspects of the system are also adopted,” he said.

Huawei says that countries such as Namibia have already started the implementation process to move to a high-speed digital format for television transmission, while Malawi’s preparations are also at an advanced stage.

Meanwhile, Huawei adds that it has been contracted as partner for the digital migration in many African countries, including Namibia and Malawi.

In Namibia, the Chinese company has been working with the Namibian Broadcasting Corporation (NBC) and other broadcasters to implement the switch-over.

In Malawi the company says it is working on a smaller scenario with the main national broadcaster.