{"id":418988,"date":"2021-10-19T14:50:06","date_gmt":"2021-10-19T12:50:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/?p=418988"},"modified":"2021-10-19T19:41:44","modified_gmt":"2021-10-19T17:41:44","slug":"telkom-applies-for-extra-4g-spectrum","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/cellular\/418988-telkom-applies-for-extra-4g-spectrum.html","title":{"rendered":"Telkom applies for extra 4G spectrum"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (Icasa) has published an application from Telkom for extra capacity for its cellular network.<\/p>\n<p>Telkom is asking for an additional 27 megahertz (MHz) of bandwidth in the 2300MHz spectrum band it currently uses for its 4G network.<\/p>\n<p>If the application is successful, Telkom will have access to all of the frequencies in the band between 2300MHz and 2387MHz.<\/p>\n<p>It has also applied to surrender the use of frequencies the 2400MHz band that was paired with its 2300Mhz assignment.<\/p>\n<p>Icasa has opened Telkom\u2019s spectrum application for public comment, saying that it believes regulations compel it to undertake public consultations.<\/p>\n<p>Sources at other mobile network operators have expressed frustration with Telkom\u2019s application, saying that Icasa should auction off these frequencies with other high-demand spectrum.<\/p>\n<p>South Africa\u2019s perpetually delayed spectrum auction <a href=\"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/cellular\/414316-back-to-square-one-for-spectrum-auction-telkom-declares-victory.html\"><strong>was sent back to the drawing board<\/strong><\/a> on 15 September after E-tv owner eMedia refused to settle with Icasa.<\/p>\n<p>eMedia is involved in the process as E-tv operates on spectrum that Icasa plans to take back and issue to mobile network operators once South Africa\u2019s migration to digital TV broadcasting is complete.<\/p>\n<p>Communications minister Khumbudzo Ntshavheni wants to <a href=\"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/broadcasting\/417100-good-news-for-digital-tv-in-south-africa.html\"><strong>finalise the digital TV migration<\/strong><\/a> by January 2022, and <a href=\"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/cellular\/416584-new-deadlines-for-4g-and-5g-spectrum-auction.html\"><strong>Icasa intends to start the spectrum auction<\/strong><\/a> on 1 March 2022.<\/p>\n<p>However, eMedia has other ideas and <a href=\"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/telecoms\/417250-e-tv-threatens-legal-action-over-digital-tv.html\"><strong>launched legal action<\/strong><\/a> to block government from switching off South Africa\u2019s old analogue TV network in January.<\/p>\n<p>eMedia has argued that it will take 15\u201318 months to migrate the millions of households who still use the analogue TV signal to receive SABC and E-tv via an antenna.<\/p>\n<p>Considering the fraught situation surrounding spectrum in South Africa, it is expected that Telkom\u2019s competitors will oppose its application for additional 2300MHz spectrum.<\/p>\n<p>MyBroadband asked Telkom for comment but the company did not respond by the time of publication.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"100%\" height=\"700\" src=\"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/45333_15-10_ICASA.pdf\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<h3 class=\"my-4\">Now read: <a href=\"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/cellular\/418928-all-mobile-operators-want-to-keep-temporary-spectrum-except-one.html\">All mobile operators want to keep temporary spectrum \u2014 except one<\/a><\/h3>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Telkom has applied to Icasa for extra network capacity in the same frequency band it uses for its 4G network \u2014 and has also offered to give a chunk of spectrum back.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":417180,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_sma_x_autopost_status":"idle","_sma_x_autopost_error":"","_sma_x_post_id":"","_sma_facebook_post_id":"","_sma_instagram_post_id":"","_sma_threads_post_id":"","_sma_x_attempts":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[2092,51025,18090,251,63369,109],"class_list":["post-418988","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-cellular","tag-e-tv","tag-emedia","tag-independent-communications-authority-of-south-africa-icasa","tag-radio-frequency-spectrum","tag-spectrum-auction","tag-telkom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/418988"}],"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=418988"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/418988\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":419038,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/418988\/revisions\/419038"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/417180"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=418988"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=418988"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=418988"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}