ICASA councillor Andrew Matseke said the document would include an analysis of regulatory, technical, and economic factors, as well as incorporate regional and international best practices.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He said ICASA would conduct detailed analyses of capacity needs, frequency shifts, procedural coordination, and the supporting databases required to accommodate various mobile systems.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The regulator said setting spectrum management goals would be key to the Long-Term Spectrum Outlook.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Through the development of strategic frameworks, Matseke said it would dictate how spectrum would be made available in South Africa.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“Providing a framework within which the spectrum will be made available to facilitate decision-making by creating the basis for consideration and evaluation of the future course of action,” he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“The spectrum management process will also anticipate developments to ensure that we provide adequately now and for the future,” he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Before the plan is fully adopted, ICASA has committed to publishing the full-spectrum outlook plan and roadmap to gather feedback from stakeholders and industry players.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Members of the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Communications and Digital Technologies expressed concerns about the lack of set timeframes for ICASA’s presentation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Members also questioned when the long-term outlook would be finalised and what specific milestones would be set for the period between now and 2028. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
ICASA representatives could not answer these questions. The regulator proposed hosting a separate, half-day workshop with the Portfolio Committee in the future to set these dates.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Radio frequency spectrum is used for wireless communication between devices and networks, making it the lifeblood for much of the telecoms industry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Mobile networks, television and radio broadcasters, vehicle tracking companies, and many other industries rely on the resource.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Plan to block spectrum hoarding in South Africa<\/h2>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Solly-Malatsi-speaking-at-table.jpg\")
Solly Malatsi, Minister in the Department of Communications and Digital Technologies<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\nIn April 2026, the Department of Communications and Digital Technologies published new regulations aimed at modernising South Africa’s digital landscape and lowering network service costs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Dubbed the Electronic Communications Amendment Bill of 2026, the legislation’s publication followed the department’s earlier consultation processes and consideration of stakeholder feedback.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It included the following key mechanisms with the goal of fostering a more inclusive telecoms sector and making communications services more affordable:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\n- Mandatory sharing of hoarded radio frequency spectrum with secondary licensees, giving preference to small networks.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
- Mandatory spectrum sharing and mobile virtual network operator (MVNO) support from large network providers.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
- Standardised municipal by-laws, including uniform wayleave processes, cost-based fees, and standardised terms for electronic communications facilities deployments.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
- Mandatory leasing of essential facilities, including submarine cable landing stations, ducts, and high sites.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
- Enhanced market competition oversight and collaboration.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n
The bill also proposed introducing a “use it or share it” policy for radio frequency spectrum to prevent players from hoarding the valuable resource.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This represented a significant change over the “use it or lose it” approach announced by the former Minister of Communications and current deputy minister, Mondli Gungubele, in June 2024.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
ICASA is developing a Long-Term Spectrum Outlook to determine how it will manage and allocate high-value radio frequency spectrum over the next 10 to 20 years.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":341076,"featured_media":648051,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[45398,66538,18090,105298,72090,96893,251,4490],"class_list":["post-648033","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-telecoms","tag-andrew-matseke","tag-department-of-communications-and-digital-technologies-dcdt","tag-independent-communications-authority-of-south-africa-icasa","tag-long-term-spectrum-outlook","tag-mondli-gungubele","tag-portfolio-committee-on-communications-and-digital-technologies","tag-radio-frequency-spectrum","tag-spectrum"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/648033"}],"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\/341076"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=648033"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/648033\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":648109,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/648033\/revisions\/648109"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/648051"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=648033"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=648033"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=648033"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
In April 2026, the Department of Communications and Digital Technologies published new regulations aimed at modernising South Africa’s digital landscape and lowering network service costs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Dubbed the Electronic Communications Amendment Bill of 2026, the legislation’s publication followed the department’s earlier consultation processes and consideration of stakeholder feedback.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It included the following key mechanisms with the goal of fostering a more inclusive telecoms sector and making communications services more affordable:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
- \n
- Mandatory sharing of hoarded radio frequency spectrum with secondary licensees, giving preference to small networks.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
- Mandatory spectrum sharing and mobile virtual network operator (MVNO) support from large network providers.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
- Standardised municipal by-laws, including uniform wayleave processes, cost-based fees, and standardised terms for electronic communications facilities deployments.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
- Mandatory leasing of essential facilities, including submarine cable landing stations, ducts, and high sites.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
- Enhanced market competition oversight and collaboration.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n
The bill also proposed introducing a “use it or share it” policy for radio frequency spectrum to prevent players from hoarding the valuable resource.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This represented a significant change over the “use it or lose it” approach announced by the former Minister of Communications and current deputy minister, Mondli Gungubele, in June 2024.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
ICASA is developing a Long-Term Spectrum Outlook to determine how it will manage and allocate high-value radio frequency spectrum over the next 10 to 20 years.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":341076,"featured_media":648051,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[45398,66538,18090,105298,72090,96893,251,4490],"class_list":["post-648033","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-telecoms","tag-andrew-matseke","tag-department-of-communications-and-digital-technologies-dcdt","tag-independent-communications-authority-of-south-africa-icasa","tag-long-term-spectrum-outlook","tag-mondli-gungubele","tag-portfolio-committee-on-communications-and-digital-technologies","tag-radio-frequency-spectrum","tag-spectrum"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/648033"}],"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\/341076"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=648033"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/648033\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":648109,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/648033\/revisions\/648109"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/648051"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=648033"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=648033"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=648033"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}