STATE MEETS WITH LICENSEES
Relief for operators as Cwele eases spectrum timetable
There is no urgency in forcing operators to return the spectrum until the end of the current licence period, says Siyabonga Cwele
Mobile operators received a temporary reprieve on Wednesday, with Telecommunications and Postal Services Minister Siyabonga Cwele announcing they will not be compelled to surrender their existing high-demand spectrum at this stage. There was no urgency in forcing operators to return the spectrum until the end of the current licence period, Cwele said. The reprieve would ensure investment certainty. The government’s controversial National Integrated ICT Policy white paper, published in September 2016, had proposed, among other things, that spectrum already allocated to mobile operators be recovered and a ban placed on the trading of frequencies in popular bands. A key proposal was that the spectrum be pooled and made available to a new wholesale open-access network operator to be owned by any licensee interested in participating as an investor and shareholder. Mobile giants, including Vodacom and MTN, raised concern about the proposal which many saw as unconstitutional. On the other ...
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