MTN Group is reported to have opposed a legal challenge raised by Telkom South Africa to prevent the country’s communications regulator from holding a spectrum auction in March.
Last week, Telkom is believed to have filed an application asking a high court to review an invitation by regulator ICASA to participate in the auction, which outlines rules, spectrum bands and licence obligations.
MTN appears to be taking the regulator’s side: Reuters reported the operator stated while the current invitation is not perfect, “we believe the regulator has tried to strike a delicate balance for all players”. The operator filed court papers to oppose Telkom’s application.
Vodacom South Africa and MTN are keen for the auction to take place as quickly as possible.
Bloomberg quoted MTN as stating a successful spectrum auction “has the capacity to not only release much-needed funds into the national fiscus, but it will have an immediate impact on consumers”.
MTN also noted no additional spectrum has been added to the industry for 14 years.
ICASA was forced to put an auction scheduled to begin in March 2021 on ice oafter a court injunction following a legal challenge by MTN, Telkom and broadcaster e.tv. The regulator now plans to auction 700MHz, 800MHz, 2.6GHz and 3.5GHz frequencies in March 2022.
Telkom is currently arguing against the auction of sub-1GHz frequencies which are not available yet. It is also challenging the lack of clarity in licensing a controversial wholesale open access network ICASA intends to make available to all of the country’s operators.
It would be recalled that MTN Nigeria, a member of the MTN Group has successfully complied with Nigerian regulators in the auction of the Spectrum licensee for 5G deployment. It participated in the auction and won one of the only two slots that were on offer. It is paying $280 million for the license.
