MTN South Africa has filed court papers to oppose Telkom’s legal attempt to prevent the Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (ICASA) from processing applications for high-demand spectrum on 8th March 2022.
“A successful spectrum auction has the capacity to not only release much-needed funds into the national fiscus, but it will have an immediate impact on consumers,” read a statement from MTN, adding that no additional spectrum has been added to the industry for 14 years.
MTN and Vodacom have for long called for more spectrum to expand their data services and boost revenue. However, Telkom said that there are major problems with ICASA’s invitation to apply (ITA) for the spectrum, chiefly that the regulator has not considered the competitive market implications of licensing the network capacity, and that important parts of the spectrum are still occupied by TV broadcaster E-tv.
“We cannot have a repeat of 2021, where the entire process was delayed for another full year, and that on the back of 14 years of no additional spectrum being added to the industry,”said MTN.
While the plan was approved in October, Telkom this week filed an urgent court application to prevent the auction. It opposes ICASA’s decision to include sub 1 Gigahertz spectrum in the auction as that frequency is currently subject to a separate legal challenge.
“A successful spectrum auction has the capacity to not only release much-needed funds into the national fiscus, but it will have an immediate impact on consumers,”added MTN.
Currently, one could suggest that ICASA’s allocation of temporary spectrum is already evidence of this capacity, as data prices in South Africa have continued to reduce, making Internet access even more accessible.
“Throughout last year, MTN consistently worked with the regulator to avoid further delays in the spectrum process, hence the very narrow focus of the company’s 2021 court challenge, but the time for action is now,”said ICASA.
