Where is WiMax?

By Candice Jones for Motorola

Johannesburg, 06 Jul 2009

Motorola has called on the Independent Communications Authority of SA (ICASA) to auction the much anticipated WiMax spectrum.

The company's director for marketing wireless broadband, Noel Kirkaldy, says WiMax spectrum must be auctioned, and soon. “Without it we are all dressed up with nowhere to go.”

Kirkaldy say he is surprised the regulator did not begin the process sooner. “There is so much pressure with the Soccer World Cup coming and WiMax would have been a good way to alleviate that pressure.”

Even if the regulator manages to auction the spectrum now, Kirkaldy says it would be impossible to put together a network that would be able to take advantage of 2010 in time for the sports spectacle.

Near the end of last year, ICASA held public hearings on the process and regulatory framework of WiMax spectrum allocation. The regulator had intended to release a report on the results of the hearings at the end of March; however, it has still not made the information available.

ICASA spokesman Sekgoela Sekgoela says the council is meeting tomorrow on the matter and cannot provide any further details until after the meeting.

Waiting to compete

The report deals with the concerns expressed by operators looking to participate in a possible WiMax auction, after the authority published draft regulations a year ago.

ICASA's primary auction criteria of 51% black empowerment would have cut most of the possible bidders from participating. Most of the incumbent operators are already running commercial WiMax services, since all have already been allocated spectrum.

Spectrum would be a boon for smaller operators, now that they have the right to build their own networks. Kirkaldy says many of the smaller operators will not have the ability to build fibre networks, making WiMax the next best option.

SA is fast lagging behind in the WiMax space, with countries like Uganda and Gabon already on the high-speed wireless map.

With masses of international Internet capacity fast approaching South African shores, Kirkaldy says the technology could only provide opportunities for telcos that want a chance to compete.