ICASA - Afrikan Heroes

South Africa’s Icasa Raises $1-billion in Spectrum Auction

March 18, 2022

Icasa has concluded the long-awaited spectrum auction. A week after starting the main stage of the auction, the communications regulator has declared the process a success.

A statement from the Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (ICASA) confirms the successful conclusion of the much-anticipated high- demand radio frequency spectrum auction today. The auction involved six qualified bidders, i.e. Cell C, Liquid Intelligent Technologies, MTN, Rain Networks, Telkom and Vodacom.

The revenue collected from this auction totals more than R14.4 billion, which will go to the national fiscus. This is the total amount generated from the Opt-In phase auction, which took place on 8 March 2022, and the main auction stage, which commenced on 10 March 2022 and concluded today, 17 March 2022.

The main auction stage comprised 58 rounds of bidding between the six bidders.

The Authority further confirms that there was one unsold spectrum lot of 2x10MHz in the IMT800 Band. This lot will still be licensed by the Authority in future.

The next stage in the auction process will be the assignment round, which is purely an administrative process and will be held on Tuesday, 22 March 2022, to determine the actual spectrum ranges to be assigned for all the lots bought in the various bands.

The Chairperson of ICASA Dr Keabetswe Modimoeng expresses his gratitude to all the bidders for their cooperation and participation in the auction. He further expresses his utmost gratitude to the government of the Republic and the entire South African society for their support throughout this complex process.

“This was our inaugural radio frequency spectrum auction, and we are really grateful to have reached this stage without any hassles and challenges from the first day of the actual auction to date. This shows South Africa’s capability as an investment- friendly destination,” says Dr Modimoeng.

The Chairperson further thanked all members of the ICASA staff who were actively involved in this process for their stamina and commitment to ensuring that this licensing process completes successfully.

“These members of our staff did this for the country, and they must be hailed for the successful conclusion thereof. We look forward to all South Africans benefitting from the dividends of these regulatory interventions, and to seeing the proceeds of the auction being put to good use for the benefit of all South Africans. This auction was indeed in the best interest of all South Africans, as will be the subsequent licensing interventions post government’s revision of the Wireless Open Access Network (WOAN) Policy” concludes Dr Modimoeng.

Kelechi Deca

Kelechi Deca has over two decades of media experience, he has traveled to over 77 countries reporting on multilateral development institutions, international business, trade, travels, culture, and diplomacy. He is also a petrol head with in-depth knowledge of automobiles and the auto industry

South Africa Announce Winners for Spectrum Auction

February 21, 2022

South Africa’s communications regulator Icasa has vetted and approved all six companies that have bid to take part in next month’s radio frequency spectrum auction for mobile broadband services.

Icasa announced that six companies have prequalified to participate in the auction. The companies Vodacom, MTN, Telkom, Cell C, Liquid Intelligent Technologies and Rain have all successfully qualified to take part in the auction, which Icasa hopes to hold next month despite pending litigation by Telkom against the process that the regulator has followed in licensing the spectrum.

Icasa issued an amended invitation to apply, or ITA, on 10 December 2021, inviting industry players to bid to participate in the auction. They had until 31 January to file their submissions.

“All six applications have passed the pre-qualification stage of the licensing process and can now participate in the planned auction stage at the beginning of March 2022,” Icasa said in a statement on Monday.

“The fact that all six applicants have qualified illustrates the robustness of our telecommunications sector in South Africa,” said Icasa chairman Keabetswe Modimoeng.

“We can officially proclaim the forthcoming March 2022 spectrum auction as an unparalleled milestone in our country’s communications history as this will be the first-ever spectrum auction held on our shores.

“We commit ourselves to discharge this vital public-interest mandate to the very best of our abilities as we continue to confront the ongoing litigation head on,” Modimoeng said.

“With only two weeks remaining, we need to see selfless and responsible corporate citizenship at play,” he added. This is in apparent reference to Telkom, which has threatened to reinstate its application for an urgent interdict if it feels in any way aggrieved by Icasa’s decisions.

Telkom, which had been seeking an urgent interdict to stop the licensing process from proceeding, last month decided not to pursue that application, instead seeking to have the high court hear its grievances on their merits. The matter will now be heard in mid-April, after the auction has been concluded.

Kelechi Deca

Kelechi Deca has over two decades of media experience, he has traveled to over 77 countries reporting on multilateral development institutions, international business, trade, travels, culture, and diplomacy. He is also a petrol head with in-depth knowledge of automobiles and the auto industry

South African Government Fights MTN Over Court Application on 5G Spectrum Auction

February 3, 2021

The South African telecoms regulator, the Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (ICASA) has reacted over the decision by Africa’s largest telecoms company MTN to take the regulator to court over the 5G auctioning exercise. This comes on the heels of a similar court dispute instituted by the rival Telkom that went to court in December to halt the sale, a move ICASA says it will also challenge. South Africa’s telecoms regulator said it will challenge a court application by MTN Group seeking to review or scrap the regulator’s auction process for awarding spectrum vital for rolling out 5G technology.

Operators have been waiting more than a decade for ICASA to release new spectrum licences seen as vital to attract new investment and help lower costs for operators and users. The latest legal disputes threaten to further delay the auction, set for the end of March, after similar disputes halted the sale in 2016. ICASA said it was unfortunate that MTN chose to pursue legal proceedings after it had been in constant communication with the mobile operator to resolve the issues raised.

MTN is challenging ICASA’s decision to put operators in two categories, putting MTN and rival Vodacom in Tier 1 and Telkom, Cell C and others in Tier 2, according to court papers filed last week.Under this classification, MTN says Tier 1 operators would be excluded from an opt-in auction round, undermining their ability to secure access to the 3.5GHz radio frequency spectrum band seen as vital to their rollout of 5G technology.

ICASA Chairperson Keabetswe Modimoeng said in a statement the latest litigation attempt “is characteristic of either impatience or a subtle desire to channel the Authority’s decision-making outlook”.

“We believe that this licensing process has been balanced, with no room for a winner-takes-all attitude. The process cannot be tailored for the narrow fulfilment of one or two specific mobile operators,” Modimoeng said. ICASA said the auction will continue as planned unless there is a court order issued to delay or halt the process.

Kelechi Deca

Kelechi Deca has over two decades of media experience, he has traveled to over 77 countries reporting on multilateral development institutions, international business, trade, travels, culture, and diplomacy. He is also a petrol head with in-depth knowledge of automobiles and the auto industry