Keabetswe Modimoeng - Afrikan Heroes

Multichoice Taps Ex-Icasa Chairman Kea Modimoeng

January 13, 2023

Africa’s leading cable television provider Multichoice has poached Keabetswe Modimoeng, the former chairman of communications regulator Icasa, in a senior role. Modimoeng is joining MultiChoice Africa as group executive for corporate affairs and stakeholder relations.

He will report to Collen Dlamini, the group executive for corporate affairs. He will also be a member of the MultiChoice Africa executive team, the group said in a statement on Tuesday.

His appointment follows the decision by MTN Group to hire Icasa’s former CEO, Willington Ngwepe, as chief of staff in the office of the telecommunications group’s CEO, Ralph Mupita. That appointment raised questions at the time about the movement of senior regulatory officials into companies they regulate.

Modimoeng’s appointment may prove less contentious given that his new role doesn’t directly involve the South African operation.

Modimoeng, a former Sunday Times journalist, led the successful but long-delayed auction last year of radio frequency spectrum for mobile broadband services. He was seen as a successful and capable leader of the Icasa council. He has previously held corporate communications and corporate citizenship roles at Kumba Iron Ore and Samsung Electronics.

“Kea is a seasoned leader with over 15 years’ experience in corporate communications, stakeholder relations, and government and regulatory affairs. He will play a key role in helping us to navigate the challenging and complex communication, stakeholder and regulatory landscape across 49 countries outside South Africa,” said Fhulu Badugela, MultiChoice Africa Holdings CEO, in a statement.

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.