SA’s telecommunications regulator says it plans to move forward the upcoming radio frequency spectrum auction as Telkom withdraws a part of its court application to halt the process.
Telkom lodged a case with the high court in December, seeking to stop the spectrum allocation process until the Independent Communications Authority of SA (Icasa) fixed issues it said were flawed.
Spectrum — the radio waves by which information is transmitted — has not been allocated in SA for close to a decade. The regulator outlined plans in 2020 to auction R8bn worth of broadband spectrum, which it aims to complete by the end of March. Telkom says the process, as set out, would entrench the big two mobile network operators.
On Monday, Icasa said Telkom had decided to withdraw part of the court application that sought to compel it to “inform all parties who may have an interest in applying for spectrum licences” in the upcoming auction of the case. “The purpose is to ensure that any interested and affected parties are notified of this application and the relief sought in the application,” Telkom said in its original court application.
Telkom’s group executive for regulatory affairs, Siyabonga Mahlangu, told Business Day on Monday that Icasa had done its part and supplied it with the details of all the affected parties, taking the requirement off the table, rather than a withdrawal. He said Telkom would proceed with the main part of the case that seeks to stop the auction.
Icasa said it will proceed with the upcoming radio frequency spectrum auction, despite Telkom’s attempt to halt the process.
The operator will proceed with its interdict, which is set to be heard on February 9. “The next critical step is for those who are opposing the interdict to file their answers by no later than 10 days from the date on which they were notified,” said Mahlangu.
Icasa said it was committed to completing the licensing process “for the benefit of all South Africans, in particular consumers of electronic communication services.
“Our efforts are geared towards licensing the high-demand spectrum through an auction by no later than end of March 2021. We have adequately consulted relevant stakeholders and the public throughout this process and cannot do so to a point of regulatory paralysis”, said Icasa chair Keabetswe Modimoeng.
Meanwhile, Icasa again rubbished claims that 5G technology was responsible for transmitting Covid-19, urging all South Africans “not to be swayed by these conspiracy theories that are hell-bent on bringing instability and fear within the nation”.
This comes as network towers belonging to Vodacom and MTN were burnt and destroyed in KwaZulu-Natal last week — seemingly sparked by the spread of false information related to Covid-19 and 5G.
Though the motive behind the attacks was unclear, communications minister Stella Ndabeni-Abrahams said they may have been sparked by the spread of false information related to Covid-19. She described the attacks as a threat to investments made to develop vital telecoms network infrastructure.
Modimoeng said on Monday: “We all need to rely on scientifically based evidence and refrain from these baseless theories. Some of the frequencies earmarked and trialled for 5G deployment by industry players were previously assigned to various operators in SA — way before the outbreak of the novel coronavirus in 2020.”
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