South Africa’s Telkom has thrown the regulator ICASA’s planned spectrum auction into considerable confusion. Telkom has filed a formal objection with the country’s high court over ICASA’s planned auction saying that it is not satisfied with the way ICASA is managing the process. The auction was due to open in March. According to the filing, […]

South Africa’s regulator, ICASA, has issued a fresh set of licences for 4G and 5G broadband expansion. The move was expected and comes ahead of a new auction of spectrum scheduled for Q1/2022. The issue of this temporary spectrum was made in response to legal threats from the cellular industry which is hard pressed to […]

South Africa’s telecoms regulator ICASA has made a number of provisional cellular spectrum awards. The licences are only good for seven months (starting on December 1st) and reflect the challenges created by the pandemic and the recommendation that people work from home. The provisional licences are until June 30th 2022, or three months after the […]

South Africa’s communications regulator ICASA was due to face a slew of court actions starting November 15th over spectrum allocations. The actions were cancelled. The legal actions had started and included Telkom, Rain, Vodacom and MTN. The softening comes about because ICASA has now licensed “provisional” spectrum in place of temporary allocations which have been […]

South African cellular operator Vodacom has joined telco Telkom in confronting regulator ICASA over its decision to take back “temporary” spectrum. It means that South Africa’s three largest telcos (including MTN) are all now pursuing ICASA through the Pretoria High Court and arguing that ICASA’s timing is not right. The spectrum was made available in […]

South African telco Telkom is arguing that an upcoming withdrawal of cellular spectrum would cause significant disruption as people are still forced to work from home, and the move would harm the provision of services for those users. Telkom has applied to the South African High Court in Pretoria and asking for a review of […]

South Africa’s telco Telkom is suing the broadcasting and communications regulator ICASA over the withdrawal of the temporary spectrum that’s coming to an end in November. The spectrum was made available in April 2020 to help cope with extra demand from home working and the pressures from Covid. The government extended the emergency spectrum access […]

South Africa suffers regular electricity load shedding, where local power supplies are cut during heavy demand. Now the country’s business leaders are arguing with regulator ICASA that much the same risks apply to spectrum bandwidth. Business Leadership South Africa (BLSA) head Busi Mavuso said that if ICASA proceeds with its plan to take back temporarily […]

South Africa’s SABC public broadcaster is asking the country’s media regulator, the Independent Communications Authority (ICASA) to introduce new rules which limit the amount and scope of revenue that pay-TV operators can earn. The SABC proposals cover advertising revenues as well as cash generated by infomercials, sponsorship and similar sources. SABC says the existing regulations […]

South Africa’s SABC public broadcaster is in an acrimonious spat with the nation’s transmission company, Sentech. SABC has reportedly written to South Africa’s Competition Commission as well as regulator ICASA alleging that Sentech is levying “unfair and anti-competitive price” for carrying SABC’s transmissions. The move is seen as being a potentially extremely damaging showdown between […]