Ahead of South Africa's much-anticipated spectrum auction, mobile network operators (MNOs) and policy-makers should consider a few things, including not viewing the process only for cash flow purposes.
This was the sentiment shared by Paul Scanlan, CTO of Huawei's Carrier Business Group, speaking on the sidelines of Mobile World Congress (MWC) this week.
“The best thing is that they don’t bid too much, to keep the price down,” said Scanlan. “I know that’s tricky but that’s the best thing that can happen.”
“The second best thing is to give out as much spectrum as possible. If you do that, the operators will be enabled instead of being regulated, nor hamstrung because they don’t have enough cash to spend on a network.”
Furthermore, mobile network operators should be encouraged to build for “indoor” scenarios, the CTO stated.
“Eighty percent of all traffic is indoors – schools, hospitals, universities and manufacturing plants are indoors. Where do you build the site? Outdoors.
“Agriculture is outdoors. Do you build 5G or 4G sites where the rural areas are? The only way you can monetise the plant is if you have a partnership with the strawberry farmer or tomato farmer.”
Scanlan noted this is the advice he always shares with all operators and regulators around the world, including ICT ministers.
“You have to be sensitive to government’s commitment to the people and you have to be sensitive to how government has managed and balanced its books, and where does it get the source of revenue − from taxation, or spectrum fees, or from levies of all sorts of other things.
“You do have to be sensitive and some of it is short-term money, mid-term results; other ones like this will take years before the flow-on effects to the economy and to the industry are realised.
“It’s easy to say this but it’s not an easy process,” he pointed out, adding that while it might be possible in countries like Saudi Arabia or China, it’s very challenging in other countries.
Scanlan’s sentiments are similar to those shared by GSM Association director-general Mats Granryd at the 2022 MWC.
Earlier this week, Granryd highlighted the opportunities that exist with the release of spectrum, encouraging governments to release and assign spectrum at affordable prices.
Telecoms regulator the Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (ICASA) is preparing to license high-demand spectrum, a process that had stalled for years.
According to ICASA, the auction stage will commence on 8 March with the in-person single round opt-in auction. The main online auction will take place from 10 March, it states.
Last month, ICASA said Cell C, MTN, Vodacom, Telkom, Rain Networks and Liquid Intelligent Technologies all passed the pre-qualification stage of the spectrum licensing process.
The six telcos tendered applications for the International Mobile Telecommunication spectrum licences, paving the way for the spectrum auction.
The continued delays in allocating spectrum had been criticised by many, including president Cyril Ramaphosa, who lamented the slow pace of auctioning the spectrum during his State of the Nation Address (SONA) last month.
During the SONA, Ramaphosa pointed out that innovation is being held back by a scarcity of broadband spectrum, and companies are reluctant to invest, which stifles the economy.
At the time, he hinted ICASA would commence with the process of auctioning the high-frequency communications spectrum within three weeks. “This will unlock new spectrum for mobile telecommunication for the first time ever in over a decade.”
In addition, Ramaphosa said government will facilitate the rapid deployment of broadband infrastructure across all municipalities by establishing a standard model for the granting of municipal permissions.
“These reforms will revolutionise the country’s technological development, making faster broadband accessible to more people; but, more importantly, reducing the cost of digital communications.”
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