The Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (ICASA) has stated that the spectrum auction will be proceeding in a short while, despite Telkom announcing that its lawsuit opposing the process will commence in April. This announcement was further supported by the South African President – Cyril Ramaphosa that the planned auction will begin in the next three weeks. This comment emerged from the President’s annual State of the Nation Address (SONA) for 2022.
This comment demonstrates the government’s support for high-frequency communications. One surprising deduction is how the President ignored the litigation associated with the exercise. Local operator Telcom SA has filed an urgent interdict on the 5th of January, 202s asking the high court to suspend the December 2021 published “Invitations To Apply (ITA).” Telkom is unhappy with how Icasa is conducting the spectrum auction process. Discussions between the industry (including Telkom) and Icasa have not stopped the litigation. In addition, a broadcaster e-tv is challenging the process in court, with the hearing slated for March.
On the other hand, industry specialists have accused Telkom of deploying tactics involving regulatory support to defeat the competition. For example, Christoff Klein, MD of dotadvisors, pointed out that Telkom usually wants to “achieve through regulatory lobbying what it cannot achieve by means of competing in the market.” The lawsuit has been perceived as a tool for shrinking competition and gaining an undue advantage in spectrum allocation. In this case, the court has failed to yield the request of Telkom SA, which demands the earlier hearing of the case, and shifted it to the week of April 11-14, 20202.
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Six operators have submitted their applications and wish to participate in the auction process. Despite the litigation, Telkom is among the six applicants, including Vodacom, Liquid Intelligent Technologies, Rain, Cell C, and MTN. The auction spectrum includes 700MHz, 800MHz, 2.6GHz and 3.5GHz bands.
Also, the President stated the government support to expedite the rapid installation of broadband infrastructure through the entire South African municipalities. This will be achieved by deploying a standard model for issuing municipal permissions. This move has gained massive support by harmonising the rules required for infrastructure roll-out. Previously, individual cities, towns, and municipalities formulated their rules resulting in inconsistency and overall challenge for fiber network operators.
