President Cyril Ramaphosa, presenting his State of the Nation Address last night (10 February), says the spectrum auction is a vital enabler of economic recovery, and will take place “about three weeks from now”.
“One of the greatest constraints on the technological development of our economy has been the unacceptable delay in the migration of broadcasting from analogue to digital,” he says.
The switch-off of analogue transmission has been completed in a number of provinces, and this is due to be finalised in the other provinces by the end of March 2022.
“Our communications regulator, ICASA [Independent Communications Authority of South Africa], will commence with the auctioning of the high frequency communications spectrum in about three weeks from now,” the president promises.
“This will unlock new spectrum for mobile telecommunications for the first time in over a decade.
“In addition, we 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 accesible to more people and reducing the costs of digital communications,” he adds.