ICASA withdraws scarce spectrum ITAs

The Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (ICASA) released regulations in May on how it will grant radio frequency spectrum licences for competing applications or instances where there is insufficient spectrum available to accommodate demand.

ICASA has also opened applications for 2.6 GHz and 3.5 GHz spectrum, and recently extended the initial application deadline of 25 June to 30 July 2010.

The regulations stipulate that after the spectrum applications have been filtered to ensure that they meet the minimum requirements laid down by ICASA, a standard ascending-price closed-bid auction, where applicants bid against each other, will start.

ICASA also laid down various requirements for applicants to qualify for spectrum, including that a company must have 30% direct ownership by Historically Disadvantaged Individuals (HDI) and may not have any shareholding in a company which has spectrum in the band which is applied for.

ICASA further requires 2.6 GHz licensees to achieve population coverage of 50% within two years of being granted spectrum. And this is where the regulator may have been over-ambitious.

These requirements were widely criticized by industry players who felt that the 30% BEE requirement is an unnecessary stumbling block while the 50% population coverage commitment was simply unachievable.

There was also uncertainty as to exactly what ICASA wanted to achieve: Increase competition, ensure the best possible utilization of this valuable spectrum or fill the state’s coffers with the highest possible price for the spectrum which goes on auction.

Stephen Mncube, the new ICASA Chairman, told delegates today that the issuing of licenses must be matched with the rollout of services to assist universal access to South Africans.

ICASA Councilor Marcia Socikwa said that the 2.6 GHz spectrum band provides a great opportunity to launch two competing technologies:  WiMax and LTE. These two technologies however require different spectrum allocation structures – LTE requires paired spectrum while WiMax needs blocks of spectrum.

Socikwa said that the regulations will stand, but that the regulator has withdrawn both the 2.6 GHz and 3.5 GHz ITAs, partly because of the need to reconfigure the band to suit all technologies. This reconfiguration is likely to benefit LTE applicants.

ICASA explained that there is a need for in-band migration to suit both TDD and FDD applicants. Here ICASA refers to the fact that Sentech and iBurst’s spectrum is currently situated in bands assigned to LTE by the ITU.

ICASA added that it will review the technical aspects of the 2.6 GHz ITA to address some of the shortcomings in this documentation.

The revised ITAs will be published in this financial year.

ICASA withdraws 2.6 GHz and 3.5 GHz ITAs << discussion and comments