Telkom withdraws action against ICASA
January 24, 2022
By Chris Forrester
South African telco Telkom has, as expected, withdrawn its High Court action against ICASA over the regulator’s upcoming auction of spectrum.
Telkom told the Pretoria High Court that it will remove its urgent application for an ‘interdict’ to forbid any progress on the auction. Instead, however, it wants ICASA to promptly hear its objections and review the merits of the auction.
The auction is due to commence in early March.
“Telkom has reached agreement with all the respondents on the need to expedite the hearing for part B of Telkom’s two-part application,” Telkom said in a statement on January 21st. The first portion of its Court action dealt with the interdict and had been set down for a court hearing on January 25th. That now won’t proceed.
But Telkom also added that it reserved the right to reinstate its action “should it become necessary”.
The local consensus is that ICASA might now delay the spectrum auction by a few months while the arguments are heard.