Icasa, Telkom butt heads on spectrum
Regulator to fight court bid Telco firm wants to halt expiry of emergency radio wave use
SA’s telecoms regulator says it will fight Telkom’s court bid to block the expiry in November of the temporary spectrum allocation, as the duo butt heads over the radio waves that executives say are crucial to brightening the country’s business-friendly credentials.
In 2020, the Independent Communications Authority of SA (Icasa) assigned temporary additional radio frequency spectrum to the main mobile operators to cope with a surge in data traffic as the pandemic induced lockdown restrictions cut off employees from workplaces, students from classrooms and public representatives from citizens.
But two weeks ago the regulator announced it would terminate the licences at end-November, triggering discontent in boardrooms. Executives criticise the timing as nonsensical because SA is still in a state of disaster and say the move would degrade telecoms services for customers.
Last week Telkom filed a case to stop the temporary spectrum from being removed, because it has relieved congestion on the network. Congestion has made the cost of internet connectivity in SA among the most expensive in the world.
On Wednesday, Icasa said it has resolved “to oppose the litigation instituted by Telkom to prevent the expiry of the temporary Covid-19 spectrum allocation”.
The regulator believes that the circumstances and considerations that informed the issuing of spectrum at the onset of the pandemic did not take into account “that the spectrum would be licensed on a longterm or semi-permanent basis”.
“The authority will therefore be derelict in its duty if it were, by default, to perpetuate what is now becoming an anticompetitive, unfair and unjust spectrum licensing regime, under the guise of pandemic relief.”
Icasa said the focus should be on a permanent licensing of spectrum. However, an auction of spectrum has been delayed for many years.
Releasing the additional spectrum is one of the corner
stones of President Cyril Ramaphosa’s reform agenda because it will lower SA’s internet costs, which have been partly blamed for the sluggish economic growth over the past decade as operators repurposed frequency bands historically used for voice calls.
Mobile operators have long argued that access to spectrum will help to reduce the cost of mobile data as it will allow them to cover a wider geographical area with existing towers while carrying more data traffic.
Though the regulator recently set itself a March 2022 deadline for the spectrum, that remains uncertain. Icasa now has to redraft its plan for the auction, after an agreement was reached between it and mobile operators on the spectrum auction and endorsed by the high court in September.
FRUSTRATED
The order came months after negotiations between operators and Icasa to find a settlement. The high court ruled in March that the auction should be halted pending a judicial review of contentions raised by Telkom and e.tv.
The television station has a stake in the process because its broadcast airwaves penetrate buildings and are ideal for sending cellular signals over long distances.
The regulator fears that its new case may further delay its auction.
“It would be unfortunate that the authority’s efforts to license the spectrum are continually frustrated while ... the temporary spectrum is mandated through the courts to remain in place in perpetuity,” said Icasa.
Dominic Cull, a lawyer and founder of Ellipsis, which specialises in telecommunications law, doubts Telkom’s new case will delay the auction.
“I don’t see it affecting the auction process. It might even bring more pressure onto people to behave.”
He said that it is possible for Icasa to fight Telkom about the temporary spectrum without impeding the permanent auction as the two are separate matters.
If Telkom were to win an interdict stopping the temporary spectrum withdrawal, it could take six to nine months before it can be reviewed, by which time an auction would hopefully have been completed in March, meaning operators would walk away without losing anything.