Data prices will fall – eventually – as Icasa gets its house in order

When there is a political will, a way will be made. Nothing has demonstrated this more than the Covid-19 crisis in terms of how government departments and entities have responded to it.

Some government departments and entities have left little doubt about their endemic administrative weaknesses and lack of capacity, while others have shown agility when unencumbered by the grind of bureaucracy.

One of the long-running criticisms of South Africa is not its lack of adequate and “fit-for-purpose” policies, but that the country tends to come up short in implementation. 

It has been interesting to witness how the Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (Icasa) has conducted itself amid the Covid-19 chaos and uncertainty, given its strategic importance and enabling function.

During the onset of the National State of Disaster, Icasa acted swiftly and released high-demand spectrum – albeit, temporarily. This is the same entity that has been often derided and found itself at the centre of acerbic criticism for being a hindrance to mobile network operators’ (MNOs) efforts to ramp up their network infrastructure.

One can surmise from the associated restrictions in movement induced by the National State of Disaster that network usage would trend upwards, driven by the rise in remote work and study. Icasa admits as much and says it made the move and released the high-demand spectrum to “enable the sector to meet increased demand”.

That was in April. In July, Icasa signalled to the sector the regulator was getting ready to publish invitation to apply (ITA) notices for the coveted and long-awaited wireless open-access network and the international mobile telecommunications spectrum respectively. 

In the National Treasury’s economic paper, published in August 2019, the telecommunications sector is highlighted as one of the areas requiring urgent reform.

In fact, “… the delay in digital migration and the spectrum allocation process is the single-biggest constraint on the growth of the… sector and is a bottleneck for broader economic growth. Spectrum is a scarce and finite resource, which when used for broadband, is an enabler for economic activity and development,” reads a segment of the economic paper. 

It is against this backdrop that Icasa is making the correct overtures. In turn, MNOs are preparing for the impending tidal wave of change.   

For starters, Vodacom has seized the opportunity and “used the temporary assignment of spectrum by Icasa to increase network capacity rapidly”.

Furthermore, “… [the] temporary spectrum assignment also allowed us to fast track the launch of South Africa’s first mobile 5G network and our fixed 5G commercial service,” Vodacom revealed in its trading update published on 23 July. 

Icasa is expected to conclude the process at the end of 2020 and begin issuing licences in 2021. Encouragingly, the developments at Icasa pertaining to spectrum are happening along similar lines proposed in the National Treasury economic paper.