Details of the long-awaited auction for national and municipal licences for wireless spectrum have been set out by the South African telecoms regulator.
Under new proposals, the local regulator, the Independent Communications Authority of South Africa…
Details of the long-awaited auction for national and municipal licences for wireless spectrum have been set out by the South African telecoms regulator.
Under new proposals, the local regulator, the Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (ICASA), is to award four national licences as well as two licences per municipal region. The national licences will have a reserve price of just R750,000 (US$95,000) and the local licences R250,000.
One of the conditions to bid for a licence is that companies must have a 30% ‘historically-disadvantaged’ rating, linked to the country’s Black Economic Empowerment policy, and which may rule out one or two of the potential bidding companies. ICASA said if more than four companies make it through this beauty contest phase, then the licences will be allocated via a closed auction.
Due to poor telecoms infrastructure and high costs to consumers, South Africa has little over one million broadband connections, translating to a penetration rate of just 2-3%. Consumers have been required to use alternative broadband services such as HSDPA or locally branded wireless options iBurst or Sentech, but the launch of WiMax, which the new spectrum licences will permit, should enable an acceleration in broadband penetration.