The South African regulator ICASA and the country’s Department of Telecommunications need to get over their differences, and move forward with an auction that promises to improve mobile broadband speeds and coverage.
Last month there was finally some good news from South Africa regarding much-needed new spectrum. Regulator ICASA published an Invitation To Apply (ITA) for providing mobile broadband in urban and rural areas using the 700 MHz, 800 MHz and 2.6 GHz bands.
But as we have often seen in the past, as South Africa makes progress, new roadblocks emerge.
This week, the Department of Telecommunications filed a suit to block the auction. The decision to take ICASA to court is very unfortunate. South Africa should be a beacon for the rest of the continent when it comes to mobile broadband, not a cautionary tale.
To quote ICASA: “The lack of availability of spectrum for IMT brings constraints and challenges in the provision of broadband services”.
More than half a billion people across Africa are now subscribed to mobile services as the continent continues to migrate rapidly to mobile broadband networks, according to the recently published Mobile Economy Africa 2016 report.
The positive transformational impact of mobile is being felt more profoundly in Africa than anywhere else in the world. However, change for the better doesn’t happen automatically. It is critical that sufficient spectrum is made available to mobile operators in fair, transparent and predictable way.
ICASA has made good progress recently. The spectrum it is planning to auction off would help lay the groundwork for much better mobile broadband connectivity in South Africa and, along with it, more advanced and useful services.
The 700 and 800 MHz bands can help mobile operators improve coverage of 4G services. That, along with the broad availability of low-cost devices, plays a key role in connecting millions of South Africans to fast mobile broadband services. The bands can also help improve indoor coverage.
The 2.6 GHz band would help mobile operators increase capacity in metropolitan areas. In the end, it is this mixture of capacity and coverage that’s needed to build great LTE networks.
Getting unconnected South Africans online and improving services for users who are already taking advantage will be a big challenge. But it is a challenge that the mobile industry, working with ICASA and the government, should meet head on, together. Only then can the true potential of mobile broadband be fulfilled.