ICASA reveals plans for important spectrum allocation

Looks promising, but will wait for the experts to tell us what the short comings are.

Let's hope this can all get rolled out quickly and with a minimum of delay.
 
Spectrum package breakdown

Of these packages, the most notable are the following:

Two 2.6Ghz blocks are reserved for brand new wireless telecommunications operators.
A block of 2.6GHz and 800MHz is reserved for an I-ECNS license holder on wholesale access conditions.
A block of 2.6GHz and 800MHz is reserved for Sentech on wholesale open access conditions.
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A step in the right direction but I fail to see how this will immediately stimulate the SA ICT sector, especially the requirement for 2 new operators.
 
Yes this sounds good. 70% coverage for someone like Sentech will however be a mission (if they go retail). Nobody will forget MyWireless... Wholesale is another matter all together (since Sentech is not too bad with their Analog TV and Radio services, they have most of the infrastructure around the country). But not sure if Sentech's existing towers will be enought for LTE. Think they will need MANY more.

Also what nobody has tackled is TOWERS for all these LTE "suppliers". The 2 new entrants won't have any:

So either they will have to lease space on other providers (not seeing this happening)...
OR will have to start building their own (with all the delays in Environmental impact studies, once AGAIN digging up the roads to lay fibre to these towers etc.).

Not sure how many "independent" towers are available yet around SA
 
i quite like this as a theory - practical implementation is always ICASA's challenge - but at least they have recognised that spectrum management has moved on from the 1950s
 
dominic said:
lawl - typical telkom attitude :)
from what i can see DD are by no means assured of this
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Way I see it is that all the current wireless operators (including the big ones - VC, MTN, Telkom, Cell C) will be bidding on the single block.

Can they (the above 4) form a new consortium and bid for the "new operators" blocks and then roll out a shared LTE rural network as per Pieter Uys' earlier suggestion?
 
MickeyD said:
Can they (the above 4) form a new consortium and bid for the "new operators" blocks and then roll out a shared LTE rural network as per Pieter Uys' earlier suggestion?
Click to expand...

they will have to step over my dead body to do so...

if i understand it that approach should be applied to the single paired slot (2.6 / 800)
 
MickeyD said:
I see it as ICASA doing a favour to, amongst others, Dimension Data.
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They are in a good position, but I doubt it is that clear cut. The great thing is there is the wholesale bid option which precludes them from selling directly and thus could stimulate some smaller operators:)

MickeyD said:
Way I see it is that all the current wireless operators (including the big ones - VC, MTN, Telkom, Cell C) will be bidding on the single block.

Can they (the above 4) form a new consortium and bid for the "new operators" blocks and then roll out a shared LTE rural network as per Pieter Uys' earlier suggestion?
Click to expand...

I don't see that they can do that unless they are going for the wholesale block and essentially create a new company that would provide wholesale access. The question is how easy would it be for other ECNS license holders to get access to this wholesale service..?

At least ICASA is waking up a little bit and making some improvements 0 they refarmed some of Sentech's spectrum:wtf::D
 
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