Johannesburg – The Independent Communications Authority (Icasa) is preparing to propose MTN South Africa’s litigation to have certain aspects of the upcoming high-demand spectrum auction declared unlawful and set aside.
The authority said on Friday that it was currently reviewing the application and had instructed its legal representatives to oppose the application, it also urged South Africans not to be alarmed by the latest litigation.
According to Icasa chairperson Keabetswe Modimoeng, the high-demand spectrum licensing process would continue as planned unless there was a court order issued to delay or halt the process.
“We will go to court and argue our case in defence and furtherance of Icasa’s public interest mandate. We will do so because South Africans deserve to benefit from the imminent release of the radio frequency spectrum through reduced data costs, improved network quality and rural broadband coverage,” Modimoeng said.
In its founding affidavit filed last week MTN said it sought an order reviewing and setting aside Icasa’s decision to implement an auction structure that involved the categories of operators as Tier-1 or Tier-2 operators and the Opt-In Scheme.
MTN argued that Icasa’s Invitation To Apply for the high-demand spectrum had caused a scheme that deliberately sterilised MTN and Vodacom, South Africa’s two major cellular operations, from bidding during the Opt-In round for the spectrum that they needed to advance their 5G networks
