Giving Vodacom and MTN access to the 1800MHz spectrum could spell trouble for anyone providing data services, says the Internet Service Providers Association (ISPA).
"We as ISPA see this foray into data as a serious threat to people who operate under VANS [value added network services] licences," Myron Zlotnick, a member of the ISPA steering committee told the South African Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (SATRA). ISPA is opposing the application by MTN and Vodacom to be allocated frequency in the 1800MHz spectrum at SATRA public hearings.
"The incumbent [mobile] operators receive discounted bandwidth from Telkom. They have service level agreements linked to penalties, something VANS providers have been trying to get from Telkom for a long time," Zlotnick says. He contrasts that with the conditions ISPA members have to operate under: "They are bandwidth hamstrung and they certainly don't have guaranteed service levels."
This would make it nearly impossible for ISPA members to compete with Vodacom and MTN should they provide data services, he says.
The two cellular companies are applying for frequency allocations in the Gauteng, Cape Town and Durban-Pietermartizburg areas, with later allocations nationwide to possibly follow. The nature of the 1800MHz spectrum makes it possible to offer broadband data services on mobile devices, a prohibitively expensive exercise using the 900MHz spectrum the companies currently operate in.
Vodacom and MTN say they need the allocation simply to accommodate the growth in their voice services, but neither have excluded the possibility of offering advanced data services too.
Zlotnick says the companies would be able to offer data services to both corporate and private users more cost-effectively than current data offerings, and he does not see a lot of space for both to operate. "The mobile operators would be able to do it easier than VANS licensees," he told a SATRA committee.
While ISPA is opposing the application, it expects frequency to be made available regardless. "We predict approval is a likely outcome given the strong arguments made, on paper at least," Zlotnick says.
So ISPA is asking that certain conditions be imposed on approval. The association argues that these should include restricting the use of 1800MHz to voice only and confining it to the metropolitan hotspots identified by Vodacom and MTN.
Another option offered was to force the mobile companies to obtain and operate under VANS licences, although their current service licences exclude them from the need to do so.
"We don't have a firm plan for restrictions," Zlotnick told ITWeb. "We just wanted to plant the seed in the authority's mind."
Third cellular licence designate Cell C agrees that restrictions should be imposed, after the current application has been rejected. "This offers an unrivalled opportunity for SATRA to level the playing field once and for all," Cell C advisor Paul Doany told the hearing.
His consortium wants SATRA to use access to 1800MHz as leverage to negotiate issues such as domestic roaming, facility sharing, number portability and interconnection. It also wants to see commitments from the operators that once the 1800MHz spectrum is granted it will be used. If this is done, Doany says, granting the request would be the right thing to do.
"In principle, Cell C does not object to the granting of GSM 1800 to the incumbents literally tomorrow," he says.
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