South Africa’s communications regulator ICASA has issued a draft set of digital terrestrial broadcasting regulations. ICASA has set out the frequencies which will be allocated for public broadcasting, commercial free-to-view, subscription and community broadcasting. The new rules, when implemented, will replace older legislation in place for more than 10 years although largely ignored because analogue […]
Starlink is unlikely to gain permission to operate in South Africa any time soon, according to a local communications sector expert. Dominic Cull, a regulatory expert at communications sector legal advisory firm Ellipsis, said it will be at least two years before new regulations will be in place to allow for equity equivalents – and […]
SpaceX’s Starlink broadband-by-satellite system is not authorised or licensed by South Africa. Recent discussions between SpaceX and South Africa’s licensing authorities could see this prohibition lifted. However, there are reportedly thousands of Starlink users in South Africa. The users have imported equipment from neighbouring states where Starlink is authorised and have accessed Starlink via its […]
SpaceX currently cannot operate in South Africa despite some apparent enthusiastic support from Cyril Ramaphosa, the nation’s president. SpaceX has formally asked for local telecoms regulator ICASA to modify its requirements. ICASA is to hold consultations starting on February 5th and 6th with interested stakeholders and the public. The filing is by SpaceX Internet Services […]
South Africa’s MultiChoice Group, itself now considerably under the influence of Canal+, has admitted it is facing financial headwinds. It will publish its full numbers on November 12th, but in a trading update issued on November 7th it said it has moved from a profit at the same time last year to a loss now. […]
The October 2nd raid by South Africa communications regulator Icasa on satellite broadcaster StarSat was deliberately damaging said StarSat officials. Senior technical staff were at the broadcaster’s Johannesburg head office and tried to tell Icasa and the police during the raid which equipment operated their systems. But, says StarSat, this advice was ignored and cables […]
South African telecoms regulator Icasa has raided the offices of StarSat and closed the pay-TV broadcaster down. On October 2nd, aided by police, Icasa staff removed computers and cables at StarSat’s head office in Johannesburg. StarSat marketing manager Jan Harmse told local journalists that the raid came as a shock despite Icasa ordering StarSat to […]
South Africa’s StarTimes-backed pay-TV operation StarSat is still on air despite regulator Icasa ordering it to shut down. StarSat operates under a licence issued to On Digital Media (ODM) in 2008, which has now expired. StarTimes has said that its StarSat platform will continue operating despite the Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (Icasa) ordering […]
On Digital Media (ODM), licensed in 2007, and now trading as StarSat, has been ordered to close by South Africa’s telecommunications regulator Icasa. StarSat – as ODM – was formed to provide an alternative to MultiChoice and its domination of the pay-TV scene with DStv and popular sport channels. ODM initially traded as TopTV, but […]
South Africa’s telecoms regulator ICASA wants to cut the fees telcos charge each other to carry calls between their networks. ICASA says these charges should be cut by 50 per cent. ICASA’s notice published in the Government Gazette on March 22nd that it wants mobile termination rates slashed from 9c/minute today (13c for smaller operators) […]