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- President Cyril Ramaphosa says the rollout of additional spectrum will facilitate the deployment of broadband infrastructure to municipalities.
- The auction is expected to take place on 8 March, despite a legal battle against it.
- South Africa is in the process of migration from the analogue broadcast signal to digital, ahead of the auction.
President Cyril Ramaphosa has ignored the legal battle around the auction of broadband spectrum, telling the nation on Thursday evening that the process would go ahead in the coming weeks.
The auction of spectrum, which has been hampered by litigation, faces yet another hurdle, with the court set to hear Telkom's case against the the terms and the structure of Independent Communications Authority of South Africa's (Icasa) invitation document, the Invitation to Apply (ITA), which was issued in December 2021.
The hearing is set down for 11 to 14 April, weeks after the proposed auction date of 8 March.
Telkom has stated that the outcome of the review may have a "material impact on the process and outcomes of the auction".
However, during his State of the Nation Address, Ramaphosa stated that Icasa "will commence with the auctioning of the high-frequency communications spectrum" - steering clear of the legal issues that have dogged the process which is expected to generate R8 billion for the fiscus.
Ramaphosa also stated that the much anticipated rollout of spectrum will allow the government to facilitate the rapid deployment of broadband infrastructure across all municipalities.
"These reforms will revolutionise the country’s technological development, making faster broadband accessible to more people and reducing the costs of digital communications."
Spectrum refers to the radio frequencies needed for cellphone companies to transmit data. The release of additional frequencies is expected to allow companies to expand the rollout of faster generation technologies such as 5G, expand network coverage, and eventually lower the cost of communication.
A number of telecommunication companies are eager to see the successful conclusion of the auction, in what was evidenced by their opposition of Telkom's initial plan to interdict the process. The company last month traded off the urgent interdict application for an expedited hearing of its case, a proposal which was supported by other mobile companies.
The upcoming broadband spectrum allocation will be the country's first in 14 years.
The ongoing process of migrating the country's broadcast signal from analogue to digital terrestrial television will play a key role in freeing up spectrum, and Ramaphosa described the old transmission service as "one of the greatest constraints on the technological development" of the economy.
A number of provinces have already migrated to digital ahead of the end of March deadline of the national switch-off.
