Financial Mail and Business Day

More delays possible as Icasa redraws spectrum rules

Mudiwa Gavaza Technology Writer

A court has endorsed an agreement between the Independent Communications Authority of SA (Icasa) and mobile operators on the spectrum auction, sending the regulator back to the drawing board about the rules governing the allocation of the key wireless airwaves.

The move will potentially further delay the auction of the radio frequencies as Icasa may be forced to conduct drawn-out public hearings and miss a selfimposed deadline of January 2022 to get the process going. That would be a blow to one of the most important aspects of removing blockages to faster economic growth. Operators and business leaders have long stressed that additional spectrum would expand broadband access and bring down the cost of internet connectivity.

In the consent order approved by the high court in Pretoria last week, Icasa agreed to redraft the rules after operators challenged in court the process as flawed, with Telkom saying it would entrench the dominance of MTN and Vodacom.

The order comes months after behind-the-scenes negotiations between operators and Icasa to find a settlement. The high court ruled in March that the auction should be halted pending a judicial review of contentions raised by Telkom and eTV. The television station has a stake in the process because its broadcast airwaves are ideal for sending cellular signals long distances and penetrating buildings.

Icasa, which had planned to allocate the airwaves six months ago, filed the consent order two weeks ago with proposals it hoped would get the support of telecom operators opposing the process and pave the way for the auction in January.

Even if it is able to meet the deadline, it would be more than a month after it plans to take away the additional emergency spectrum allocated to operators in exchange for broadening connectivity during the pandemic-related lockdown. Icasa announced two weeks ago that it would terminate the licences at the end of November.

Business Leadership SA (BLSA), the voice of some of the biggest corporate names in the country, warned against taking away the emergency spectrum, which would worsen the impact of the pandemic on the economy and jobs.

“Employers will have little choice but to compel employees to return to work, with a corresponding spike in health risks, or jobs will be lost. Given we still have 700,000 fewer people employed than before the pandemic, the last thing we should be doing is putting more jobs at risk,” Busi Mavuso, the CEO of

BLSA, wrote in her Business Day column. “The situation is a reminder of how important it is to deliver permanent access to more spectrum.”

MTN, the country’s secondbiggest mobile operator, joined Telkom in challenging the spectrum auction, arguing that it would favour smaller players, leaving little for bigger operators, especially for the spectrum necessary for new 5G services, which will boost smartphone services and power everything from production lines in factories to driverless cars.

Business Day understands those concerns may have been addressed as part of the negotiations behind closed doors.

The last time SA released spectrum was between 2004 and 2005. It was forced to repurpose frequency bands that were historically used for voice calls to meet surging demand for data as millions of customers use smartphones to browse the internet, stream videos and music, and shop online.

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2021-09-21T07:00:00.0000000Z

2021-09-21T07:00:00.0000000Z

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