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ANC prioritises spectrum release to boost economy

Simnikiwe Mzekandaba
By Simnikiwe Mzekandaba, IT in government editor
Johannesburg, 22 Jan 2020

The African National Congress (ANC) has emphasised the release of high-demand spectrum as one of the priority measures to grow the country’s economy.

This was revealed by ANC secretary-general Ace Magashule, briefing media on the outcomes of the ANC lekgotla. The ANC National Executive Committee held its annual general lekgotla at the weekend.

His sentiments echo those expressed by president Cyril Ramaphosa in his closing remarks at the annual meeting earlier this week.

According to Magashule, the legkotla agreed on various measures that need to be implemented to stimulate increased investment, boost consumer demand and lower the cost of doing business.

Spectrum release is, therefore, identified as one of the measures that must be prioritised, the secretary-general said. “[On] the issue of spectrum, we should ensure the spectrum release should lead to lower data costs, to realise the extension of access to online service and put more money in consumer pockets.”

Release of spectrum has been high on the ANC-led government agenda, with Ramaphosa using his first State of the Nation Address to stress that allocating spectrum will boost the country’s economy.

After the process was marred by delays, government made good on its promise to issue the long-awaited policy crafting the path towards mobile spectrum allocation last July.

Shortly afterwards, the Independent Communications Authority of SA (ICASA) followed with the publication of the much-anticipated information memorandum on the licensing process for the assignment of high-demand spectrum (International Mobile Telecommunication spectrum).

ICASA has promised to expedite the spectrum licensing process, with the intention to grant licences sometime this year.

Mobile operators have been clamouring for access to new spectrum for the last 10 years, as they need it to provide faster and more widespread high-speed data services.

South Africa’s last big set of spectrum issued was in the 2.1GHz band, which helped the operators in their 3G network deployment. Vodacom and MTN were allocated such spectrum, respectively, in 2004 and 2005, while Cell C received such spectrum in 2011.

Since then, mobile operators have had to split and refarm their spectrum resources to mitigate spectrum shortages and expand 4G availability.

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