Set-Top-Box ownership plan gets Cabinet's approval

"Cabinet approved the Ownership Support Rollout Framework for Set-Top-Boxes (STB's) to poor households that own television sets and the full subsidisation of outdoor and indoor antennae and the installation costs associated with rolling out digital signals," Cabinet spokesperson Jimmy Manyi said on Thursday.

He was briefing media following an ordinary Cabinet meeting on Wednesday.

In addition, the full subsidisation for households with television sets in the Square Kilometre Array (SKA) project area of the Northern Cape was also approved.

"Cabinet expressed sensitivity to poor households who may have already invested in analogue television sets and particularly those in the Northern Cape whose television signal would otherwise be scrambled by the SKA project," he added.

The announcement on which country will win the bid to host the SKA telescope is expected to take place on 4 April. South Africa and Australia are the countries in the running to host the telescope.

About five million households that are deemed to be poor will benefit from the subsidies - of about 70% in some instances and 100% in others.

The set- top-box had been identified as an important tool for public access to government information and services.

Government was therefore playing a critical role in bridging the digital divide in the country, Manyi said.