Communications regulator Icasa expects to appoint a service provider, or providers, next month to run South Africa’s next major radio frequency spectrum auction.
However, the regulator has still not committed to a date for the auction. It was delayed in 2024 after bidders asked for more time to prepare.
Icasa has committed itself to preparing and conducting the auction for new high-demand radio frequency in the 2026/2027 financial year.
Icasa CEO Tshiamo Maluleka-Disemelo told parliament’s portfolio committee on communications & digital technologies on Tuesday that the regulator had received R51-million from the national treasury for the auction.
“We have advertised the bid, we’ve received responses and we are currently evaluating those companies and whether they can be appointed … by the end of February, if not, by March. We will appoint these companies, or just one, depending on [the outcome].
“And then we’re going to be spending a lot, because we need to do a spectrum evaluation process. We also need to make sure that there’s an information memorandum that will guide as to the rules of the game. Also, we must enlist the services of auditors and of lawyers, and all that money is going towards that,” she told MPs.
Not without drama
Icasa’s last — and to date only — spectrum auction took place in March 2022, raising R14.4-billion for the national fiscus, well above the R8-billion anticipated.
Six operators participated: Vodacom, MTN, Telkom, Rain, Cell C and Liquid Intelligent Technologies. Vodacom and MTN were the biggest spenders, paying R5.4-billion and R5.2-billion respectively, securing large chunks of mid-band spectrum in the 2.6GHz and 3.5GHz bands suitable for 5G deployment. Rain and Telkom won spectrum in an initial opt-in round, while Cell C and Liquid also secured access.
Read: Icasa must go back to the drawing board on mobile broadband rules
The auction was not without drama. Telkom had tried to block the process through the courts, securing an interdict in 2021 that delayed the sale by about a year, before the auction eventually proceeded. Cell C subsequently failed to pay the R288-million it owed for 10MHz in the 3.5GHz band and surrendered the spectrum.
The nextg auction may include the 750MHz, 800MHz, 1.5GHz, 2.3GHz, 3.3GHz and 3.5GHz bands. A key unresolved question heading into that process is the allocation of the upper 6GHz band, which is the subject of a tug of war between mobile operators wanting it for 5G capacity and the Wi-Fi industry seeking unlicensed access.
While briefing the committee on Icasa’s financial statements for the first and second quarter of the financial year, Maluleka-Disemelo took time to speak about upcoming regulations and policies, noting that in the past MPs had complained that the regulator spent too much time on operational matters when in parliament.
She said Icasa’s legal team was “working hard” on draft satellite regulations that will shortly be submitted to the council for approval. And the regulator is “confident” that the draft signal distribution regulations aimed at enhancing competition in the terrestrial broadcasting market will be finalised and published at the end of March.
While Icasa reached 77% of its targets in the first quarter and improved to 89% in the second, communications minister Solly Malatsi, who gave the opening briefing to MPs, said that there was still “room for improvement” for the last two quarters.
Committee members hauled Icasa’s executives over the coals for high legal fees. By the second quarter, it had spent 15.7% or R14.6-million of its budget, on lawyers. It has battled MTN, Cell C and eMedia, among others. MPs posed several questions about developments in the court cases, but Icasa chair Mothibi Ramusi declined to comment, citing the sub judice rule.
On the budget spent so far on the legal cases, Maluleka-Disemelo reminded MPs that Icasa operates in a litigious environment.
Due to time constraints, the executive team was unable to answer many of the questions posed by MPs, and undertook to do so in writing. — (c) 2026 NewsCentral Media
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