The high court in Pretoria will hand down judgment at 10am on Friday in the application brought by telecommunications & postal services minister Siyabonga Cwele against Icasa over the communications regulator’s plan to auction off broadband spectrum.
The high-stakes legal battle could determine whether Icasa is truly independent of the executive arm of government and will also have far-reaching implications for South Africa’s ICT sector.
Cwele brought the application against Icasa, warning that the regulator had jumped the gun by pushing ahead with an invitation to apply for access to spectrum in the 700MHz, 800MHz and 2,6GHz band.
Icasa has reserved four lots of spectrum, which are well suited for building next-generation 4G/LTE mobile broadband networks in both urban and rural areas. The lots have a reserve price of R3bn each.
Cwele is unhappy with Icasa’s decision to press ahead before government has published the national integrated ICT policy white paper, which will set out how the state believes the spectrum should be allocated.
The minister has said he wants the spectrum pooled and made available for an open-access wholesale network in which all interested South African operators and service providers can participate as equity investors. MTN and Vodacom are vehemently opposed to the idea, saying it will undermine investment in the sector, among other negative outcomes.
Last week, Icasa signalled it will not back down despite the court challenge and published new rules and dates for the spectrum auction.
The regulator has said that the auction will now take place in March 2017 (previously January 2017). It has also reportedly softened the requirements around black economic empowerment, paving the way for more operators and service providers to participate in the process.
Interested parties now have until 4 November 2016 to apply to take part. The auction, if not stopped by the courts, will take place between 27 February and 10 March 2017, with the outcome to be published on 13 March 2017. — © 2016 NewsCentral Media