South Africa’s spectrum regulator, ICASA, has awarded spectrum licences to a cluster of smaller operators but not to the nation’s established players. The new bandwidth is likely to be used for 5G services.

Newcomers Comsol Networks, Nthinte Communications, Real Time Communications, Marion Technology and One Telecom have reportedly been granted 60 MHz of bandwidth each in the 3.6-3.8 GHz bands.

The existing satellite-based C-band users of the same bandwidth are expected to co-exist with the new licensees.

Inevitably there are complaints from existing cellular operators but ICASA insists that it is following South Africa’s national radio frequency plan, from 2018.

However, the well-established existing operators might well end up doing deals with the newcomers in much the same way that, for example, Vodacom taps into assets owned by Rain for 4G traffic.

Other posts by :

1. Arianespace to offer ‘rideshare’ launches
2. Space industry warns Europe must do more
3. Banks increase SpaceX forecasts
4. Orbex bankruptcy details released
5. South Korea confirms LEO plan
6. Bank: “SpaceX should lobby for an MVNO”
7. Unpacking and bagging
8. New Glenn amends pre-launch methods
9. Iridium deal a “watershed” moment for Rocket Lab

Categories: 5G, Articles, Mobile, Spectrum

Tags: 5G, cband, icasa, south africa