Government finally gets around to licensing radio spectrum
The Independent Communications Authority of SA (Icasa) is preparing to license high-demand radio frequency spectrum, President Cyril Ramaphosa said on Monday.Network operators have said for years that the lack of spectrum is hindering their ability to roll out services and to reduce the cost to communicate. There has been a freeze on new spectrum allocations as the department of telecommunications and postal services and Icasa have disagreed on allocation methods."Government has recently decided to accelerate the licensing of the radio frequency spectrum in the 2.6GHz, 700MHz and 800MHz bands to hasten the growth of mobile communications," Ramaphosa said at the ITU Telecom World congress in Durban. The event is being held in Africa for the first time.The 700MHz and 800MHz bands are known as "digital dividend" frequencies that can be freed up when a country moves from analogue to digital television broadcasting. SA’s migration has been painfully slow."Following a cabinet decision las...
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