State of Broadcasting and Digital Migration in the Region https://zimbabwe.misa.org • 6 companies were approved by the Botswana Communications Regulatory Authority (BOCRA) but only 3 are selling the decoders to the public. • To protect the consumers and make sure quality STBs are supplied 24 months warranty on the STBs was imposed on the suppliers by government. Awareness campaigns • Communication strategy is in place and is being implemented throughout the country and generally the public is now aware of the DTT migration. • There is need to have more awareness on use of proper receive antennae as a lot of viewers are not using proper receive aerials, they are using hangers, nails or wires as aerials. • ASO rehearsals were carried out at Gantsi and Maun and the desired results were achieved. • The DTT migration call centre is operational and consumers can make inquiries on all matters that affect them. Challenges • Most urban viewers have not found reason to migrate to DTT from satellite. All services available on DTT are also available on satellite and they will continue to be available on the DTH platform. • The DTT is becoming the platform for the poor. The middle and high income households are using the pay satellite platform DSTV. • There has been very low uptake of STBs by the consumers • There is limited assembly capacity in Botswana and the consumers are few and there can’t be any economies of scale given the small national TV households. • Companies that were approved by BORCA to supply and distribute STBs are lobbying government to give them tax rebates, provide subsidies on the gadgets and market protection for a specified period because of costs involved. • Government on the other hand insists that it is constrained to provide subsidies, tax rebates and market protection. • Botswana chose the Japanese transmission standard, Integrated Services Digital Broadcasting Terrestrial (ISDB-T) when the rest of the SADC region chose the DVB-T2 European standard. DVB-T2 STB prices are coming down significantly. They were more than USD 50 five years ago but they have come down to less than USD 20 of late. • The low uptake of STBs is linked to lack of exciting content and a lot of investment is required to produce relevant and appealing local content. 10