South Africa’s communications regulator advances plans for delayed spectrum auction

With a R51-million treasury allocation, Icasa aims to appoint service providers by March to oversee the highly anticipated frequency sale, currently slated for the 2026/2027 financial year.

Icasa CEO Tshiamo Maluleka-Disemelo. 

South Africa’s communications regulator is moving ahead with its next major radio frequency spectrum auction, telling parliament it expects to hire a service provider to manage the process within the coming weeks.

While the Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (Icasa) has not yet set a hard date for the sale, the auction is targeted for the 2026/2027 financial year. Bidders previously requested more time to prepare, pushing the process back from its original 2024 schedule.

Briefing the parliamentary portfolio committee on communications and digital technologies on Tuesday, Icasa CEO Tshiamo Maluleka-Disemelo confirmed that the national treasury has granted R51-million to fund the auction’s groundwork. The regulator is currently evaluating bids from companies vying to run the sale, with an appointment expected by the end of February or March.

The allocated budget will cover extensive preliminary work, including a spectrum evaluation process, drafting the information memorandum outlining the auction rules, and enlisting the necessary legal and auditing services.

A history of high stakes and legal hurdles

Icasa’s only previous spectrum auction, held in March 2022, brought in a massive R14.4-billion for the national fiscus, easily surpassing initial estimates of R8-billion. Six major operators participated, with Vodacom and MTN emerging as the biggest spenders. The two telecommunications giants paid R5.4-billion and R5.2-billion, respectively, to secure large portions of mid-band spectrum essential for 5G network rollouts.

However, that process faced significant turbulence. Telkom delayed the sale for nearly a year after securing a court interdict in 2021. Following the eventual auction, Cell C defaulted on its R288-million payment for the 3.5GHz band, forcing the company to surrender its acquired spectrum.

The upcoming auction is expected to include several frequency bands, ranging from 750MHz up to 3.5GHz. A major point of contention heading into the new sale is the upper 6GHz band, which is currently the center of an industry dispute. Mobile operators want the band reserved for 5G capacity, while the Wi-Fi industry is pushing for unlicensed access.

Pending regulations and rising legal costs

Beyond the spectrum sale, Maluleka-Disemelo updated parliament on other regulatory priorities. Icasa's legal team is finalizing draft satellite regulations for council approval and expects to publish new signal distribution regulations, designed to boost competition in the terrestrial broadcasting market, by the end of March.

During the session, lawmakers also heavily criticized Icasa’s executives over the authority's mounting legal bills. By the second quarter, the regulator had spent R14.6-million, nearly 16% of its budget, on legal fees related to ongoing disputes with major players like MTN, Cell C, and eMedia.

When pressed for details on these court cases, Icasa chair Mothibi Ramusi declined to comment, citing the sub judice rule. Maluleka-Disemelo defended the expenditure, noting that the regulator operates in a highly litigious industry.