Spectrum that communications regulator Icasa set aside for a wholesale open-access network remains unassigned more than four years after cabinet moved to scrap the scheme – and the regulator has now said it will not discuss the Woan in its long-term spectrum planning at all.

Icasa’s position is set out in the International Mobile Telecommunications Roadmap 2026, gazetted on 24 July, which maps how the regulator intends to assign mobile spectrum over the next five to 10 years.

Responding to submissions from Cell C, MTN, Vodacom, Telkom and the SA Communications Forum, Icasa said that given the uncertainties around the Woan – including that it is not mentioned in communications minister Solly Malatsi’s latest spectrum-related policy direction, dated 13 March 2026 – the matter “is not discussed in the IMT Roadmap”.

The road map’s footnotes point to a departmental media statement describing a draft policy direction on speeding up broadband and mobile network deployment.

Cell C had asked Icasa to clarify the status of what it described as the remaining Woan set-aside – 2x10MHz in the 700MHz band and 1x30MHz at 2.6GHz, or 50MHz in total. It also asked whether the spectrum would be made available to the State Digital Infrastructure Company, the entity government has been trying to create since 2017 by merging Sentech and Broadband Infraco, and urged Icasa to follow a transparent process.

Icasa’s tables do not label any spectrum as Woan spectrum, but they show unassigned blocks matching the ones Cell C describes. The road map lists 60MHz identified for IMT in the 700MHz band, of which 40MHz has been assigned and 20MHz has not. At 2.6GHz it lists 190MHz identified, 160MHz assigned and 30MHz unassigned.

The history

The Woan was government’s contentious attempt to force competition into the mobile market by creating a wholesale operator from which internet service providers could buy capacity. Icasa set spectrum aside for it in 2020 – a package that then included 30MHz at 2.6GHz and 30MHz at 3.5GHz – and imposed an obligation on successful auction bidders to collectively procure at least 30% of national capacity from the Woan for seven years once it was operational. Cell C’s reference to what “remains” suggests the package has since been eroded.

Icasa suspended the Woan licensing timetable in November 2021, saying at the time that the spectrum would remain set aside. In March 2022, cabinet approved amendments to both the high-demand spectrum policy and the Woan policy direction for publication for public comment – a decision widely read as the end of the scheme. At the conclusion of the 2022 spectrum auction, Cell C asked publicly how the set-aside spectrum would be allocated. Cell C asked again in its submissions on the road map.

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In July 2024, following Malatsi’s appointment as minister, the DA said spectrum set aside for the Woan should be licensed as soon as possible.

Whether the 2022 cabinet decision was ever completed is unclear. Telkom told Icasa in 2024 that the high-demand spectrum policy and the Woan policy direction, gazetted in 2019, remain in force. It is not clear from the public record whether those amendments were ever finalised.

MTN argued against continuing to set aside high-demand spectrum for the Woan, citing international failures of similar models and urging Icasa to release unused spectrum for commercial deployment. Vodacom said set-asides reduce competition, artificially limit participation and risk spectrum being underused. The SA Communications Forum proposed licensing the set-aside on a temporary basis.

A further 20MHz in the 800MHz band also remains unassigned. The DA said in 2024 that two 10MHz lots left unsold at the 2022 auction should be licensed.

The unassigned blocks sit idle while Icasa forecasts a shortage. The newly published road map puts spectrum identified for IMT with assignment plans or licences in place at about 1 155MHz, of which 794MHz has been assigned, against projected demand of between 3 000MHz and 14 000MHz over the next five to 10 years.

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The SDIC is no closer. TechCentral reported in May that the Sentech-Broadband Infraco merger, approved by cabinet in December 2017, has slipped to the 2028/2029 financial year in the communications department’s latest annual performance plan. — © 2026 NewsCentral Media