South Africa’s long-awaited migration to digital television – and all the promises that come with it of more spectrum for broadband, jobs, and a chance to revitalise a flagging electronics sector – has again been delayed for another six months.

While government is confident it can launch nationally in mid-2013, after a successful pilot towards last October, it has conceded that meeting the International Telecommunications Union’s (ITU) mid-2015 deadline is not feasible.