Telkom and Icasa settle spectrum auction fight
Telkom and the Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (Icasa) reached an out-of-court settlement on Friday, ending the High Court litigation over high-demand spectrum.
According to the settlement agreement, Icasa will start licensing spectrum that remains unassigned from the auction by no later than 30 June 2022.
Icasa committed to concluding this licensing process within its current financial year.
Icasa has also undertaken to consider the outcomes of last month’s spectrum auction in its licensing of the unassigned spectrum in the 800 MHz band.
Telkom Group CEO Serame Taukobong said the settlement addresses Telkom’s principal complaints.
Those were: the restrictions in the spectrum bidding rules and the competitive effect of spectrum arrangements on the auction process.
The settlement agreement gives challenger operators like Telkom further opportunity to acquire sub–1Ghz spectrum to compete with established players.
“Telkom has, in good faith, entered into a forward-looking settlement providing Icasa the opportunity to resolve current market challenges identified by competition authorities while allowing operators to focus on the business of providing superior service to their customers,” Taukobong said.
Icasa also agreed to conduct an inquiry on the impact of a potential secondary market of spectrum on competition and, if necessary, provide an adequate and enabling regulatory framework.
All parties to the litigation agreed to cover their own legal costs.
Icasa chair Dr Keabetswe Modimoeng expressed his appreciation for the cordial manner in which Telkom conducted the engagements.
“We are indeed happy to have reached this stage with Telkom,” Modimoeng said.
“This is indeed an epitome of the power of cordial dialogue where everyone has the same vision of building an inclusive digital society. We look forward to a new chapter of our public interest regulatory work with this litigation finally behind us.”
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