The Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (Icasa) has announced that it has identified seven spectrum bands for auction and subsequent licensing for 4G/5G and future mobile telecom services.
According to the country’s media and communications regulator, the seven bands are the first new cellular frequencies made available in South Africa for some 15 years.
If you recall, in March 2022, the high-demand spectrum radio bands up for action were from 700MHz up to 3,500MHz, which are needed for high-speed broadband and 5G.
Icasa had previously stated that there was an unsold spectrum lot of 2x10MHz in the IMT800 band, which will be licensed in future.
In a statement, the regulator said, “Some of the radio frequency spectrum assignment plans formalise the arrangements for the spectrum already assigned in the 2022 high-demand spectrum auction. Others identify new high-demand spectrum that the authority intends to make available for IMT services in the near future.”
“Together, these assignment plans will achieve a 215 per cent increase in the high-demand spectrum available for licensing through a competitive process,” Icasa said.
Icasa chairman Charley Lewis said, “Icasa is also looking at three further batches of spectrum for licensing. Finalising these radio frequency spectrum assignment plans marks an essential milestone in allocating and assigning high-demand spectrum for mobile communications services, applications and content.”
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