The content on this page is not written by Polity.org.za, but is supplied by third parties. This content does not constitute news reporting by Polity.org.za.

The Department of Communications is on the verge of introducing digital broadcasting technology that will increase the access of poor and rural communities to television and radio. This is a positive development.

The only problem is that the government expects poor people to pay more for this service than they have to.

Yesterday, during a meeting of the communications portfolio committee, the Department of Communications revealed that it has known since 2004 that a simple converter exists, at the cost of just R350 per unit, to allow poorer households to continue to watch TV after the digital migration process is complete.

And yet, inexplicably, the Department favours a R700 converter to perform the same function.

With government subsidisation, the R700 converter will cost every poor household R250. The simple converter, on the other hand, would cost each poor household nothing.

It’s a no-brainer.

What is more, the simple converter would cost government less because there will be less to pay out in subsidies to the 5 million poorest households. It is estimated that going for the more expensive option will come at an extra cost of R3.5 billion to the public purse.

I have today written to Minister Roy Padayachee to request that he make public his department’s rationale for choosing the expensive option. I will implore him to see sense and reconsider his decision. At the very least, those who will bear the brunt of the cost should be allowed to make the final decision. The poor should not be excluded from the benefits of this technology.