The Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (Icasa) has announced plans to launch what it’s calling a “high-level inquiry into the state of competition in the information and communications technology sector”.

The authority, which regulates the telecommunications, broadcasting and postal services sectors, plans to hold a media event at 10am on Thursday morning in Sandton, with other industry stakeholders also invited to attend.

According to Icasa, the sector has undergone and continues to undergo rapid technological change, with far-reaching implications for the local and international industries.

“One area, in which these changes are more pronounced, is in the competitiveness of the electronic communications, broadcasting and postal sectors and the assumption that greater competition will lead to reduction in the cost to communicate,” the authority says.

Another issue is what impact any consolidation of the market will have on the state of competition, the cost to communicate and bridging the digital divide. The question of the assignment of spectrum for broadband will also have an effect on the state of competition in the sector.”

Icasa says the wide-ranging inquiry will “develop a full appreciation of the implication of these unfolding changes and developments on the regulation of competition in the sector”.

The announcement comes just days after MTN and Telkom announced they had signed a heads of agreement under which the two operators will roam on each other’s mobile networks. Telkom has also agreed to outsource the management and development of its radio access network to MTN in a move design to reduce the financial losses in its Telkom Mobile division.

Neither MTN nor Telkom have said if they plan to share spectrum — Telkom has access to valuable spectrum that would be of enormous benefit to MTN as the latter rolls out a national broadband network based on next-generation 4G/LTE technology. Neither company has responded to questions from TechCentral about their spectrum plans in respect of their agreement.

At the same time, Vodacom and Neotel are in talks about a deal that is believed to include Neotel’s spectrum assets. MTN said recently that it doesn’t believe current legislation would allow the transfer of those assets.