A recent study has shown that nearly all homes in sub-Saharan Africa with analog systems will convert to digital television by 2020.

The Digital TV sub-Saharan forecast says that: "Analog terrestrial switchover will account for much of this growth, with more than two-thirds of TV homes receiving DTT signals by 2020 - up from fewer than a fifth at end-2013. Around 28% of TV households will have satellite dishes (pay and Free to Air combined) in 2020."

This points to the obvious global deadline where all analog transmissions will be halted by June this year. Most countries in Africa are grappling with the switch over decisions.

Even though the total number of households with digital TV will top 68 million in 2020, there will be a majority who will still not have access to television sets. The report detail that over 100 million households will not have access to television sets five years from now.

However, competition between different companies will rope in new clients and make it cheaper for households to own digital sets.

"Of the 11.01 million pay TV subscribers at end-2013, 8.50 million were pay satellite TV. The pay total will more than double to 25.65 million by 2020, with satellite TV contributing 14.34 million and pay DTT another 8.86 million," the report continued.

Simon Murray, principal analyst at Digital TV Research said, "This reveals the long-term potential for the region, with plenty of growth expected beyond the forecast period. The construction of next generation broadband networks will ensure that satellite TV and DTT will not be the only growth areas."

Revenues for the digital television companies have also been tipped to triple from $1.80 billion recorded in 2010 to $5.35 billion in 2020.