ICASA still looking for spectrum auction partner
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. 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.
The regulator dropped a bombshell in July when it announced that it has withdrawn invitations to apply until it has completed a reassessment of how it will assign spectrum.
ICASA Councilor Marcia Socikwa said at the time that the regulations will stand, but that the regulator has withdrawn both the 2.6 GHz and 3.5 GHz ITAs, partly because of the need to reconfigure the band to suit all technologies.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.
The revised ITAs are expected to be published before the end of this financial year.
Still looking for spectrum auctioneer
The initial auction process as described by ICASA has been criticized by some industry players for its lack of clarity, and ICASA in June invited service providers to bid to assist the regulator with the ‘preparation and facilitation of an auction as well as to produce a report on the auction for radio frequency spectrum’.
ICASA previously said that it has initially only received applications from companies like car and house auctioneers, and that they were planning to extend their search for an auction partner to international shores to find an auctioneer with experience in spectrum auctions.
It is somewhat perplexing that ICASA expected experienced spectrum auctioneers to apply from within South Africa as no-one in South Africa is allowed to hand out spectrum – and auction it for that matter.
ICASA is the only organization in SA with the right to hand out or auction spectrum, and one would expect that they will take responsibility for these regulatory processes themselves instead of wasting money on outsourcing work that they should do to a third party.
The regulator however seems to feel more comfortable with a third party handling the important auction process, and it has now announced that it has extended the closing date for this project to 4 October 2010.
The reason for this extension is unknown, but it may well be to accommodate an applicant/s which could not meet the previous deadline.
ICASA still looking for spectrum auction partner << Comments and views
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