When President Cyril Ramaphosa delivered his first State of the Nation Address in 2018, he promised swift action with regards to the allocation of high-demand radio spectrum. It was the same promise made by his predecessor Jacob Zuma the year before.
The department failed to publish the policy paper on 19 July following the president’s second attempt in June at making this promise, announcing that the minister of communications would issue the policy direction to Icasa to commence the spectrum licensing process within the next 30 days. SA ranks 126th in terms of prepaid mobile cellular tariffs and 69th in terms of fixed broadband internet tariffs, according to the World Economic Forum. National Treasury, in a report released last week, said this is a significant inhibitor of the country’s competitiveness.
They blame the lack of new spectrum for their inability to cut mobile data prices in any meaningful way. The idea of a Woan was proposed as part of the National Integrated ICT Policy White Paper, published in 2016. It calls for a shake-up of the previous policy framework for spectrum allocation in favour of an “open access regime” with the Woan outlined as a “public-private sector owned and managed consortium”.
Forward to mid-August, when the department of communications published its policy on the high-demand spectrum, paving the way for distribution to SA mobile operators. It revealed that the Woan will receive preferential treatment for spectrum in the 700MHz, 800MHz, and 2,600MHz bands.
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