Doubts plague ICASA's 2011 plans

The auction of scarce spectrum, local loop unbundling, broadband for all and the allocation of the digital dividend post the digital TV migration have been earmarked as flagship projects by SA's communications authority for 2011.

But a number of issues and delays have already plagued these projects, which could potentially undermine the Independent Communications Authority of SA's (ICASA) plans for the year ahead.

In a statement outlining the authority's outlook for 2011, ICASA chairman Stephen Mncube says this year, ICASA will develop a regulatory strategy on broadband, which will seek to bring a holistic approach to regulatory activities that are relevant to meeting government's policy goal of achieving universal access to broadband by 2019.

“Regulatory activities relevant to broadband include infrastructure sharing, local loop unbundling, a 10-year plan for identifying and making spectrum available for broadband, the pending auction of the 2.6GHz and 3.5GHz frequency spectrum, the allocation of the digital dividend and the removal of barriers to network rollout, particularly at municipal level,” he continues.

ICASA has been repeatedly criticised for being a toothless authority and its reputation for missed deadlines and inefficiency has not gone unnoticed in the industry.

Nonetheless, Mncube says 2011 represents an opportunity for the authority to re-commit itself to regulate communications and postal services sectors in the public interest, and to do so “without fear or favour”.

However, this is easier said than done, as the authority's demons of 2010 continue to haunt it in 2011.

Mncube notes that the licensing of spectrum in the 2.6GHz and 3.5GHz bands are a key priority for the authority in 2011.

The spectrum is meant to be auctioned off, but the authority's first attempt to do so was canned last year in favour of a more consultative process involving the appointment of a spectrum auctioneer.

At the time, the authority stated that it hoped to have an invitation to apply for the new auction before the end of the financial year - however, this was dependent on the appointment of the specialist auctioneer.

Last year, ICASA stated that it hoped to have made the appointment by mid-October, but no such appointment has been made. ITWeb questioned the authority on this matter in early January and was informed that a shortlist of potential candidates was sent to the minister of communications Roy Padayachie for approval and appointment.

The Department of Communications confirmed that it had received the shortlist, but stated at the time that the minister was still on his annual leave and would peruse the document on his return later in January.

However, the department has yet to announce the successful candidate. Meanwhile, the end of March deadline is imminent and industry is still in the dark as to how the second auction will be formatted.

The authority has also prioritised the unbundling of the local loop for 2011, after Padayachie committed the authority to having the process concluded by November. But the process has been repeatedly delayed, after initially being mooted at least five years ago.

The last mile, or local loop, is the copper link between the end-user and Telkom's network and is currently owned by Telkom.

The rationale behind LLU is to foster competition and reduce telecommunications costs by eliminating large investments by competitors to build their own infrastructure for last mile connectivity.

However, industry's hopes that it would have access to the last mile infrastructure may be dashed, as fixed-line operator Telkom has already warned that regulatory and business hurdles make the deadline highly unlikely.

However, ICASA says it is aware of the issues raised by the incumbent, and remains confident of the November deadline. Furthermore, the authority is confident that its existing essential facilities regulations will be sufficient to still begin the process this year.

Meanwhile, analysts have warned that even if the authority manages to conclude LLU regulations this year - implementation is a complicated process, which could take up to 10 years to implement effectively.

Mncube also noted that, in light of Padayachie's announcement of the country adoption of DVB-T2 as a standard for digital migration, there might be a need for the authority to revisit the 2010 Digital Migration Regulations.

It is understood that most operators are relying on the digital dividend from digital TV, or the 800MHz spectrum, to become available as the preferred spectrum for the rollout of Long Term Evolution networks.

But analysts warn that 800MHz spectrum will only become available after 2015, and will in all probability follow a similar spectrum auction process to the current one.

ICASA has previously stated that post-digital migration, the authority will embark on a consultation process to determine how the digital dividend will be used.

With dual-illumination set to start in November next year, SA will have less than a year to set itself up for digital switch-on, a task that is virtually impossible.

Frost & Sullivan senior industry analyst Vitalis Ozianyi says full migration to digital TV, at this stage, is a long shot. It could take up to 10 years to achieve it in the major metros, he predicts.