Who decided the digital transition should happen?

Because the process of the digital transition in broadcasting involves re-allocating frequencies, it is agreed by the International Telecommunication Union’s Regional Telecommunication Conference (RRC). At the conclusion of the ITU’s Regional Radio communication Conference in 2006 (RRC-2006) the member states of the ITU signed a treaty agreement identifying 17 June 2015 as the deadline for the transition from analogue to digital broadcasting.  The setting of this deadline by member states has become the key driver in timetabling terms of the transition from analogue to digital broadcasting.

African countries are committed to migrating to digital broadcasting by June 2015. The Regional Radio communication Conference agreed that the African member states making the digital transition would use a technical standard called DVB-T, which is the European-based consortium standard for the broadcast transmission of digital terrestrial television that was first published in 1997.