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Superior court judge Selby Baqwa halted the radio spectrum auction planned this month by communications regulator Icasa because it deemed the process illegal and irrational.
Baqwa approved an order on Monday prohibiting Icasa from continuing with the auction, pending a hearing on disputes raised by telecommunications operator Telkom and broadcaster e.tv. The reasons for his decision were not contained in the shared order at the time.
At the center of the dispute is Icasa’s decision to auction off the 700MHz and 800MHz spectrum bands, currently used by television stations, before the migration of broadcasting services to digital from analog is completed. The migration will free up much-needed spectrum for mobile operators.
Icasa argued in court last month that mobile operators could share the bands with broadcasters immediately after the auction. But Baqwa said in his opinion that IcasaC contradicted itself because it said in December that the availability of those bands would be delayed and would be subject to the completion of the migration.
Finally, Icasa modified the rules after the process began, without prior notice to the affected parties or adequate consultations, which was unfair and irrational, Baqwa said. “The change in position of Icasa is equivalent, to use a colloquial phrase, to change horses halfway … and illegal.”
‘Really impossible’
E.tv experts had argued in their affidavit that it was “in fact impossible” to share spectrum with mobile operators, as this would interfere with their transmission signal and dilute their commercial exclusivity.
Baqwa also criticized Icasa for not conducting a competitive assessment that would have helped formulate rules for the allocation of spectrum licenses, which are necessary to reduce data costs, expand 4G capacity and deploy new 5G technology.
On Tuesday, Icasa said it would appeal the court order that stopped the auction. – Reported by Nqobile Dludla, (c) 2021 Reuters
