Communications regulator Icasa will hold another auction for radio frequencies suitable for mobile broadband – including 4G/LTE and 5G – early in 2024.

The three bands are IMT450 (450-470MHz), IMT850 (825-830MHz and 870-875MHz) and IMT1500 (1.427-1.518GHz).

They have been added to seven other bands identified for mobile telecommunications and published by Icasa in December. Those bands are:

IMT700: 703-733MHz and 758-788MHz
IMT750: 733-758MHz
IMT800: 791-821MHz and 832-862MHz
IMT900: 880-915MHz and 925-960MHz
IMT2300: 2.3-2.4GHz
IMT3300: 3.3-3.4GHz
IMT3500: 3.4-3.6GHz

“Icasa is basking in the glory of its last successful auction and it’s one of the good things happening in the macro situation in South Africa,” said Dominic Cull, a lawyer specialising in electronic communications regulation, on the regulator’s latest move to license spectrum.

The allocation of high-demand spectrum by means of auctions is key to government’s economic reforms as the state attempts to boost the flailing economy.

“The finalisation of the current set of 10 radio frequency spectrum assignment plans marks a key milestone in making sufficient spectrum available to licensees, on a technology-neutral basis, in order to enable the roll-out and uptake of 4G and 5G services across South Africa,” said Icasa councillor Charley Lewis in a statement. “It also frees up important additional spectrum for the auction currently planned for early 2024.”

“A forward-looking approach to spectrum is vital to enable the development of new services to meet the evolving demands of the market,” Lewis said.

Together with last year’s auction, the new assignment plans will result in a 215% increase in so-called high-demand spectrum available for licensing through a competitive process to telecommunications operators.

Glowing

Cull is glowing in his assessment of Icasa’s work.

“In terms of preparing for further auctions and regulating spectrum integration, they’ve done excellent work,” he said. “The engineering department has excelled in terms of plans and testing in place so that when we move to another auction we’re not going to wait another 15 years. The proper groundwork has been done so it’s not so scary anymore.”

Read: Icasa earmarks spectrum for new broadband auction

The only proviso is that Icasa needs to ensure it’s aware of the appetite in the market, Cull said. “Icasa needs to assess the market demand for specific bands and make sure the research is done.