The Telecommunications Regulators` Association of Southern Africa (Trasa) believes a fully co-ordinated and rational regional band plan is essential for economic development in the Southern African Development Community (SADC).
"The frequency spectrum is a scarce resource which can contribute significantly to this region`s goals of economic development and integration," says Cuthbert Lekaukau, Trasa chairman and executive chairman of the Botswana Telecommunications Authority. "If properly used, the SADC band plan will help to realise very significant economies of scale through regional integration, enlargement of the markets and harmonisation of the use of radio systems.
The regional band plan project was started by another SADC sub-body and is now entering its final phase of preparation. It is expected to be ready to be used as a guideline for national regulators or as a binding instrument by the end of this year.
That may not be as easy as it seems. Dave Reddy, Motorola Southern Africa MD, admits there is a lot of work to be done to consolidate certain services in certain frequencies to clear others, earmarked for future or other uses. Broadcasters on these frequencies, with investment in hardware specialised for those frequencies, may not be over-anxious to move to another spectrum. And forcing the move is not an option. "I don`t see us in SA picking up broadcasters by the scruff of the neck and moving them," he says.
Motorola acted as consultant to Trasa in the development of the plan.
Lekaukau says the process of rationalisation and consolidation will have to be a negotiated process, and could take up to a decade to complete.
Even then the band plan cannot be set in stone. "It is a blueprint, but of an evolving industry," Reddy says.
The only similar project Trasa is aware of is the regional plan the European Union (EU) implemented with its formation. Lekaukau says agreeing to the plan took the EU six years, so it is a point of pride for Trasa to be close to finalisation within two years.
SADC governments must now ratify the draft plan, but Trasa foresees no major stumbling blocks. Necessity will drive the process. "The region quite simply cannot afford to be left behind as a telecommunications revolution sweeps the world," says Lekaukau.
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