WiMax hopefuls will have to wait for a licence framework, even if they meet the rigorous “beauty contest” requirements set out by the Independent Communications Authority of SA (ICASA).
According to ICASA's recently-released annual report for the 2007/8 financial year, the regulator stipulates that, while deliberations around a regulatory framework for 2.6GHz and 3.5GHZ spectrum have been completed, a findings report and regulations will only be published during Q3 or Q4 of next year - the 2008/9 financial year.
According to Sekgoela Sekgoela, ICASA spokesman, companies which fit the bill for the beauty contest requirements will still need to comply with licence stipulations. “There will be terms and conditions to every licence.”
Most of the incumbent operators are already running commercial WiMax services, since all have already been allocated spectrum. Sekgoela says these licences have also been tagged with stipulations and an outline framework already exists for these businesses.
Two-fifths of the 3.5GHz spectrum was allocated to Telkom, Sentech and Neotel, leaving three-fifths for further allocation. Spectrum licences in the 2.6GHz band were allocated to Sentech and iBurst, leaving 126MHz available for others to snap up.
Beauty or beast?
The authority published its draft regulations on how it wants to allocate the 2.6GHz and 3.5GHz bands, commonly used for WiMax delivery globally, in June.
ICASA decided to auction WiMax spectrum to bidders, but not before it has held a beauty contest to whittle down the list of eligible players. The primary requirement for entry into the contest is to prove 51% black ownership.
The decision followed hearings conducted by ICASA in March with value-added network service providers (VANs), universal service access licensees and telecommunications incumbents (Telkom, Neotel and the big three mobile operators).
ICASA had also stipulated that applicants required electronic communications network service licences, to be allowed to bid for WiMax spectrum. For many of the VANs, WiMax represents the most reliable and cost-effective way to build their own networks.
However, these draft regulations could effectively exclude many of them from bidding for the coveted spectrum. Internet Solutions and MWeb were two of several companies that would have bid for spectrum, but do not have the required 51% black empowerment rating.
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