Telkom and Icasa are playing a game of chicken ahead of a planned spectrum auction next month. The stakes could not be higher.
Browsing: Keabetswe Modimoeng
Six companies, including Telkom, have applied to participate in the disputed upcoming auction by Icasa of radio frequency spectrum.
North West will on Wednesday become the third province in South Africa to have its analogue television signals switched off.
Icasa has licensed “provisional” spectrum to operators, ahead of an end-of-the-month deadline to do so, in the process resolving the threat of legal action.
The regulator is suspending expedited plans, at least temporarily, for licensing a wholesale open-access network.
Icasa is making steady progress in meeting the requirements for holding a long-anticipated spectrum auction next year.
Following a meeting with the CEOs of six of South Africa’s telecommunications infrastructure operators on Monday, Icasa is moving to license access to “provisional spectrum”.
The regulator has set out a timetable for the licensing of so-called “high-demand spectrum”, saying it plans to expedite the long-delayed process.
Communications regulator Icasa on Tuesday moved to avoid a lengthy court battle over the upcoming spectrum auction, saying it will consent to a high court order.
Communications regulator Icasa has served notice on operators that it will withdraw temporary spectrum allocated under the Covid-19 regulations at the end of November. This is wrongheaded. By Duncan McLeod.