Communications controller Icasa will challenge a Telkom court request that seeks to stop the auction of high demand spectrum licenses considered a key pillar to attract new investment.

High-demand spectrum allocation is vital to expanding broadband services, especially 5G, in South Africa, where the high cost of telecommunications is a barrier to doing business.

“They actually want to stop the whole spectrum licensing process,” said Paseka Maleka, a spokesperson for Icasa. TechCentral first reported the news about the Telkom lawsuit on Tuesday.

Invitations for the wholesale open access network, or Woan, and high-demand commercial spectrum for mobile operators such as Vodacom Group, MTN Group and Telkom, three of South Africa’s largest telecommunications service providers, were issued on October 2. .

Icasa said it received the court request on Tuesday regarding the call for submissions for both the Woan spectrum and the high demand spectrum.

“The authority is reviewing the court request and has hired its legal representatives to oppose the court request,” Icasa said in a statement.

He said applications for international mobile spectrum remain open until December 28, and have so far not been affected by the court case. – Reported by Wendell Roelf, (c) 2020 Reuters