{"id":326113,"date":"2019-11-04T08:59:44","date_gmt":"2019-11-04T06:59:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/?p=326113"},"modified":"2019-11-04T11:04:11","modified_gmt":"2019-11-04T09:04:11","slug":"how-south-africas-national-cellphone-network-will-work","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/cellular\/326113-how-south-africas-national-cellphone-network-will-work.html","title":{"rendered":"How South Africa&#8217;s national cellphone network will work"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (ICASA) has <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/cellular\/325907-the-plan-for-4g-and-5g-spectrum-in-south-africa.html\">published an information memo<\/a><\/strong> explaining its plan for licensing 4G and 5G spectrum in South Africa.<\/p>\n<p>ICASA presents five different options for dividing up the highly sought-after radio frequencies, all of which include an allotment for a national wholesale open-access network (WOAN).<\/p>\n<p>Minister of Communications Stella Ndabeni-Abrahams <a href=\"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/cellular\/314631-department-of-communications-publishes-spectrum-policy.html\"><strong>published the government&#8217;s spectrum policy<\/strong><\/a> in July 2019. In it, she directed ICASA to set aside and license spectrum to the WOAN.<\/p>\n<p>Radio frequency spectrum that is not assigned to the WOAN will be auctioned to the highest bidder, with the reserve prices still to be determined.<\/p>\n<p>In addition to describing its intentions for South Africa&#8217;s available 4G and 5G spectrum, ICASA also revealed more of its plans around how the WOAN will operate.<\/p>\n<h3 class=\"my-4\">Spectrum for the WOAN<\/h3>\n<p>ICASA&#8217;s information memo stipulates the following options for radio frequency spectrum assignments for the WOAN:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Option 1:<\/strong> 2\u00d725MHz (IMT800), 2\u00d720MHz (IMT2600), and 1\u00d725MHz (IMT2600)<\/li>\n<li><strong>Option 2&amp;3:<\/strong> 2\u00d720MHz (IMT800) and 1\u00d740MHz (IMT2600)<\/li>\n<li><strong>Option 4<\/strong>: 2\u00d720MHz (IMT700) and 1\u00d740MHz (IMT2600)<\/li>\n<li><strong>Option 5:<\/strong> 2\u00d710MHz (IMT700), 2\u00d710MHz (IMT800), and 1\u00d740MHz (IMT2600)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3 class=\"my-4\">Roaming and infrastructure sharing for the WOAN<\/h3>\n<p>The network operators that win radio spectrum for their 4G and 5G networks will be obligated to offer a number of services to the WOAN.<\/p>\n<p>This means that Vodacom, MTN, and other network operators that are assigned spectrum, will have to give the WOAN wholesale access to their passive and active infrastructure.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;This will be on a cost-oriented basis and on reasonable terms,&#8221; ICASA said.<\/p>\n<p>Passive infrastructure highlighted in this requirement includes base station sites, space on towers, and co-location facilities.<\/p>\n<p>Mobile network operators will also need to provide seamless national roaming services to the WOAN. This must also be on a cost-oriented and non-discriminatory basis.<\/p>\n<p>This means that if you use a network service provider that runs on the WOAN and you go outside its coverage area, ICASA&#8217;s intention is that subscribers will roam onto one of South Africa&#8217;s other mobile network operators.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;The right of the [WOAN] to benefit from mandated national roaming will expire after a period of five years from the award of the [spectrum licence], at which point the [WOAN] will be expected to have nationwide coverage from its own network,&#8221; ICASA said.<\/p>\n<h3 class=\"my-4\">The WOAN&#8217;s obligations<\/h3>\n<p>ICASA stated that it intends to impose licence obligations on the WOAN to ensure that it provisions wholesale services around the country.<\/p>\n<p>This includes roaming, access to MVNOs, and wholesale mobile data services.<\/p>\n<p>The WOAN must provide these services in a non-discriminatory and transparent way, with affordable prices determined on a cost-oriented basis with a reasonable rate of return.<\/p>\n<p>ICASA said that it may give the WOAN a 3-5 year &#8220;licence obligation holiday&#8221;. It may also impose additional wholesale obligations on network operators that win the other portions of available 4G and 5G spectrum.<\/p>\n<p>Anyone interested in submitting feedback to ICASA regarding its views on the licensing of high-demand spectrum has until 16:00 on 31 January 2020 to send in their written feedback.<\/p>\n<h3 class=\"my-4\">Now read: <a href=\"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/telecoms\/315377-spectrum-must-be-used-to-slash-data-prices-competition-commission.html\">Spectrum must be used to slash data prices \u2013 Competition Commission<\/a><\/h3>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>ICASA has published an information memo explaining its plan for licensing 4G and 5G spectrum in South Africa.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":149057,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[35,18090,16544,43422],"class_list":["post-326113","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-cellular","tag-headline","tag-independent-communications-authority-of-south-africa-icasa","tag-stella-ndabeni-abrahams","tag-wireless-open-access-network-woan"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/326113"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/15"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=326113"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/326113\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":326121,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/326113\/revisions\/326121"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/149057"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=326113"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=326113"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=326113"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}