Telkom has informed shareholders that it will continue its legal fight against the Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (Icasa) over its spectrum auction.<\/p>\n
Icasa concluded its spectrum auction<\/strong><\/a> on 17 March 2022, with South Africa\u2019s mobile network operators pledging R14.4 billion to acquire new radio frequency spectrum.<\/p>\n Spectrum is the raw network capacity mobile operators use to communicate between their towers and cellular devices.<\/p>\n \u201cWhilst Telkom has been able to secure the much-needed sub\u20131 GHz in the spectrum auction, we were constrained in our ability to acquire the amount of spectrum that we need to compete effectively,\u201d Telkom stated.<\/p>\n \u201cTo secure its ability to compete effectively in the mobile market, Telkom persists with its court application to ensure that the licensing of spectrum promotes effective competition in the mobile market\u201d.<\/p>\n The hearing is set down for 11\u201314 April 2022.<\/p>\n Telkom said the court\u2019s findings \u201cmay impact the auction and its outcome.\u201d<\/p>\n The partially state-owned operator omitted from its shareholder announcement that it has asked the court to invalidate the auction<\/strong><\/a>.<\/p>\n Telkom wants Icasa to return to the drawing board and restart the licensing process leading up to the auction.<\/p>\n This includes public consultations and issuing a draft invitation to apply on which interested parties can comment.<\/p>\n Ellipsis Regulatory Solutions founder Dominic Cull said a Telkom victory would delay the release of additional spectrum by at least 15\u201318 months.<\/p>\n Telkom said it Icasa confirmed its auction fee is due within 30 working days.<\/p>\n \u201cThe auction fee due is the full amount relating to 3500MHz and the proportional payment for 800MHz that is immediately available,\u201d Telkom stated.<\/p>\n It obtained 20MHz of 800MHz and 22MHz of 3500MHz for R2.1 billion in the auction.<\/p>\n \u201cIcasa will communicate an update on the full availability of the 800MHz, after 1 July 2022,\u201d said Telkom.<\/p>\n Telkom advised shareholders that it expects to make the R1.1 billion payment in the current financial year, which will impact the current year\u2019s debt level, capital expenditure, and free cash flow.<\/p>\n \u201cTelkom year-to-date free cash flow is in negative territory, tracking below its expectations,\u201d the company reported.<\/p>\n \u201cNotwithstanding the financial impact, Telkom has adequate capacity on its balance sheet to fund the spectrum while maintaining sufficient headroom of its loan covenants.\u201d<\/p>\n Telkom said the long-term strategic benefits of the spectrum acquisition outweigh the short-term financial impact.<\/p>\n \u201cSince inception, Telkom Mobile has not owned sub\u20131 GHz spectrum,\u201d explained Telkom.<\/p>\n \u201cThe 20MHz of 800MHz, once available, will enable more efficient network deployment, increased coverage, and capacity on the mobility layer resulting in improved user throughput and experience, particularly in rural areas.\u201d<\/p>\n Telkom said it already leads the market with its fixed wireless access service.<\/p>\n \u201cThe acquisition of 22MHz of 3500MHz will enable us to advance an enhanced 5G position through combining our existing 28MHz of 3500MHz to achieve a total of 50MHz contiguous spectrum in this band.\u201d<\/p>\n Telkom has informed shareholders that it will forge ahead with its High Court case to overturn the recent spectrum auction.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":431386,"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":[35,18090,63369,109],"class_list":["post-438970","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-cellular","tag-headline","tag-independent-communications-authority-of-south-africa-icasa","tag-spectrum-auction","tag-telkom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/438970"}],"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=438970"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/438970\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":438978,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/438970\/revisions\/438978"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/431386"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=438970"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=438970"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=438970"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\n\n
\n Telkom spectrum auction acquisitions<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n \n \nSpectrum<\/th>\n Frequency bands<\/th>\n Acquisition cost<\/th>\n Auction fee due in 30 working days<\/th>\n Outstanding fee – due after 1 July 2022<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n<\/thead>\n \n 800MHz<\/td>\n 20MHz<\/td>\n R1,504,815,407.10<\/td>\n R532,704,654.12<\/td>\n R972,110,752.99<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n 3500MHz<\/td>\n 22MHz<\/td>\n R608,800,000.00<\/td>\n R608,800,000.00<\/td>\n \u2014<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n Total<\/strong><\/td>\n R2,113,615,407.10<\/strong><\/td>\n R1,141,504,654.12<\/strong><\/td>\n R972,110,752.99<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table><\/div>\n
\nNow read: Telkom cornered<\/a><\/h3>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"