MTN Group said on Monday that its South African subsidiary will soon pay an outstanding amount of R1.9-billion to communications regulator Icasa for spectrum purchased in the 2022 spectrum auction that it’s been unable to utilise.

“Subject to its availability, it is anticipated that payment of the remaining R1.9-billion will be made in the second half of 2023,” the group said in notes alongside its interim results for the six months ended 30 June 2023, which were published on Monday. “This will allow MTN to achieve broader spectrum deployment across South Africa.”

Other mobile operators are also expected in the coming months to pay their outstanding dues for spectrum acquired in the so-called “digital dividend” bands. The operators that have acquired frequencies in these bands are MTN (800MHz), Vodacom (700MHz), Telkom (800MHz) and Rain (700MHz).

MTN purchased a total of 100MHz in the spectrum auction: 40MHz in the 2.6GHz band, 40MHz in the 3.5GHz band and 20MHz at 800MHz.

At the 2022 auction, Icasa reached agreement with all telecoms providers that payment for spectrum acquired in the digital dividend bands – both 700MHz and 800MHz – would not be due until broadcasters had vacated the frequencies.

The bands were freed up on 1 August by state-owned broadcasting signal distributor Sentech following a 31 July deadline set by communications minister Mondli Gungubele.