TechCentralTechCentral
    Facebook Twitter YouTube LinkedIn
    Facebook Twitter LinkedIn YouTube
    TechCentral TechCentral
    NEWSLETTER
    • News

      Alviva shares leap higher on R3-billion take-private offer

      30 June 2022

      Datatec to sell Analysys Mason for as much as R4.1-billion

      30 June 2022

      Futuregrowth launches start-up fund, targets R600-million raise

      30 June 2022

      Eskom is killing the rand

      30 June 2022

      Eskom ramps up load shedding as crisis deepens

      30 June 2022
    • World

      Graphics card prices plummet as crypto demand dries up

      30 June 2022

      Bitcoin just had its worst quarter in a decade

      30 June 2022

      Samsung beats TSMC to 3nm chip production

      30 June 2022

      Napster plots crypto comeback

      29 June 2022

      Pictures: Chinese spacecraft acquires images of entire planet of Mars

      29 June 2022
    • In-depth

      The NFT party is over

      30 June 2022

      The great crypto crash: the fallout, and what happens next

      22 June 2022

      Goodbye, Internet Explorer – you really won’t be missed

      19 June 2022

      Oracle’s database dominance threatened by rise of cloud-first rivals

      13 June 2022

      Everything Apple announced at WWDC – in less than 500 words

      7 June 2022
    • Podcasts

      How your organisation can triage its information security risk

      22 June 2022

      Everything PC S01E06 – ‘Apple Silicon’

      15 June 2022

      The youth might just save us

      15 June 2022

      Everything PC S01E05 – ‘Nvidia: The Green Goblin’

      8 June 2022

      Everything PC S01E04 – ‘The story of Intel – part 2’

      1 June 2022
    • Opinion

      Has South Africa’s advertising industry lost its way?

      21 June 2022

      Rob Lith: What Icasa’s spectrum auction means for SA companies

      13 June 2022

      A proposed solution to crypto’s stablecoin problem

      19 May 2022

      From spectrum to roads, why fixing SA’s problems is an uphill battle

      19 April 2022

      How AI is being deployed in the fight against cybercriminals

      8 April 2022
    • Company Hubs
      • 1-grid
      • Altron Document Solutions
      • Amplitude
      • Atvance Intellect
      • Axiz
      • BOATech
      • CallMiner
      • Digital Generation
      • E4
      • ESET
      • Euphoria Telecom
      • IBM
      • Kyocera Document Solutions
      • Microsoft
      • Nutanix
      • One Trust
      • Pinnacle
      • Skybox Security
      • SkyWire
      • Tarsus on Demand
      • Videri Digital
      • Zendesk
    • Sections
      • Banking
      • Broadcasting and Media
      • Cloud computing
      • Consumer electronics
      • Cryptocurrencies
      • Education and skills
      • Energy
      • Fintech
      • Information security
      • Internet and connectivity
      • Internet of Things
      • Investment
      • IT services
      • Motoring and transport
      • Public sector
      • Science
      • Social media
      • Talent and leadership
      • Telecoms
    • Advertise
    TechCentralTechCentral
    Home»News»Icasa on ‘dangerous’ terrain: Andile Ngcaba

    Icasa on ‘dangerous’ terrain: Andile Ngcaba

    News By Duncan McLeod14 August 2016
    Facebook Twitter LinkedIn WhatsApp Telegram Email
    Andile Ngcaba
    Andile Ngcaba

    Communications regulator Icasa was wrong to push ahead with a planned spectrum auction in the absence of government policy on the issue and should withdraw an invitation to operators to apply for access until that policy had been finalised.

    That’s the word from influential ICT industry figure Andile Ngcaba, who chairs Dimension Data Africa and Convergence Partners, and who was a director-general in the department of communications in the Nelson Mandela and Thabo Mbeki administrations.

    In an exclusive interview this week, Ngcaba warned that unless the impasse between Icasa and telecommunications & postal services minister Siyabonga Cwele was resolved, the spectrum issue risked becoming an even bigger mess than South Africa’s long-delayed and interrelated broadcasting digital migration project.

    “This might go to the appeals court, to the constitutional court, to define whose role is what. This could result in delay of between three and five years,” he said. Icasa was “entering a terrain” that was “very dangerous” for South Africa.

    Ngcaba said Icasa’s plan would disenfranchise black people, not empower them, benefiting only entrenched industry interests — tier-one operators — at the expense of smaller players, including black investors and entrepreneurs. “It is wrong,” he said.

    Spectrum licensing should be used to allow new entrepreneurs into the telecoms market, not to entrench the mobile network operators, he said. “It shouldn’t just be given to those who were there before.”

    [An auction would] prejudice of the rest of the role players who are entitled to utilise spectrum

    He accused the regulator of failing to consult adequately with the industry before issuing the invitation to apply (ITA). Because of this, it fell afoul of the Promotion of Administrative Justice Act. Its failure to work with government also meant it was ignoring requirements in the Electronic Communications Act and the Icasa Act.

    He said South Africa had never licensed telecommunications spectrum, including 3G spectrum, through an auction because it didn’t make sense in a market where the affordability of telecoms was a key issue. That shouldn’t change now, he warned.

    “When mobile started in South Africa, there was never an auction. People understood the nature of our country, which still has a huge digital divide. [Auctions] should only apply in countries that are developed and sophisticated.”

    He said Icasa should admit that it erred by pressing ahead before government had published a forthcoming national integrated ICT policy white paper. It should cancel the ITA, hold hearings at which it solicited views of all interested industry role players and not proceed until government had finalised its policy on the matter. It should not see this backtracking as “defeat”, but rather a “wise move”.

    The regulator took the industry and government by surprise last month when it invited interested telecoms licensees to apply to take part in the spectrum auction. In terms of the ITA, it would make four lots of spectrum available at a reserve price of R3bn per lot, for a total of R12bn. The highly prized spectrum is ideal for operators wanting to build 4G/LTE mobile broadband networks of national scope. Icasa’s move was welcomed by Vodacom and MTN.

    However, Cwele, who said he had not been consulted by Icasa before it issued the ITA, this week followed through on a threat to challenge the move in the courts. In papers lodged at the high court in Pretoria, the minister argued — through telecoms department acting director-general Joe Mjwara — that the ITA flew in the face of national policy plans.

    In a founding affidavit, Mjwara said Icasa’s requirements to participate in the auction would have the effect of “favouring a few rich and powerful [companies] to the prejudice of the rest of the role players who are entitled to utilise spectrum”.

    Telecoms minister Siyabonga Cwele
    Telecoms minister Siyabonga Cwele

    If Icasa were allowed to go ahead, it would have the effect of “negating the balanced approach to spectrum access and open access prescribed as national policy objectives”.

    Mjwara argued that Icasa should not be allowed to “usurp” the constitutional functions of another organ of state “under the guise of exercising its statutory regulatory and licensing powers”.

    In a document published in April, the CEOs of MTN South Africa, Vodacom Group and Cell C – Mteto Nyati, Shameel Joosub and Jose Dos Santos – expressed their fears that government intended licensing the spectrum outside an auction process to a new wholesale network consortium, with open-access obligations such as accounting separation, cost-based pricing and active infrastructure sharing imposed on all operators.

    But Ngcaba — who has in the past voiced his support for open-access principles to be used in licensing 4G spectrum — said it was wrong for Icasa simply to disregard government and push ahead with the auction.

    He said it must work with government, not against it, to seek consensus for the sake of the industry’s development. “They cannot pronounce on regulations without policy.”

    Policy making and regulation should be done a cooperative environment

    Icasa and government must sit down and talk to each other in a constructive manner, Ngcaba said. If necessary, such meetings should be brokered by a senior, independent figure.

    “Policy making and regulation should be done a cooperative environment. There is no way the courts can draw a line. That would be setting a precedent that we don’t need as a market and as a country.”

    Ngcaba warned that if Icasa pushed ahead regardless, it would create a “predatory spectrum environment” and could ultimately lead to “spectrum wars”. This would disadvantage end users, who would pay more for telecoms services.

    He also slammed the 2014 decision by President Jacob Zuma to split the department of communications in two, creating a new communications department and a separate department of telecoms & postal services. “It was a huge mistake and is going to cost the industry a lot” in the era of convergence of technologies, he said.

    One of the problems the split created was one of accountability. The conflict between Icasa and Cwele over spectrum was a consequence of that, he said. “The sooner the splitting of the department is reversed, the better.”

    • This article was originally published in the Sunday Times of 14 August 2016
    Andile Ncgaba Cell C Convergence Partners Dimension Data Icasa Jacob Zuma Joe Mjwara Jose dos Santos Mteto Nyati MTN Shameel Joosub Siyabonga Cwele Vodacom
    Share. Facebook Twitter LinkedIn WhatsApp Telegram Email
    Previous ArticleBackspace: ‘Cyber Bob’
    Next Article Another huge petrol price cut coming

    Related Posts

    Alviva shares leap higher on R3-billion take-private offer

    30 June 2022

    Datatec to sell Analysys Mason for as much as R4.1-billion

    30 June 2022

    Futuregrowth launches start-up fund, targets R600-million raise

    30 June 2022
    Add A Comment

    Comments are closed.

    Promoted

    Billetterie simplifies interactions between law firms and clients

    30 June 2022

    Think herding cats is tricky? Try herding a cloud

    29 June 2022

    How your business can help hybrid workers effectively

    28 June 2022
    Opinion

    Has South Africa’s advertising industry lost its way?

    21 June 2022

    Rob Lith: What Icasa’s spectrum auction means for SA companies

    13 June 2022

    A proposed solution to crypto’s stablecoin problem

    19 May 2022

    Subscribe to Updates

    Get the best South African technology news and analysis delivered to your e-mail inbox every morning.

    © 2009 - 2022 NewsCentral Media

    Type above and press Enter to search. Press Esc to cancel.