After concluding the country's first broadband spectrum in 17 years, the country's communication regulator plans to open a second phase of the licensing of radio frequency spectrum in the low and mid bands.
The Independent Communication Authority of South Africa (Icasa) says the next licensing phase will provide additional capacity to licensees to meet the continuous demand for capacity growth in mobile services.
"The main aim of licensing the low and mid frequency bands within the designated frequency ranges is to increase nationwide broadband access for all citizens by 2025," Icasa said in a statement.
The previous spectrum auction in March drew bids from mobile operators Vodacom, Rain, MTN, Telkom, Liquid, and Cell C. The auction raised a combined R14.4 billion as companies picked up radio frequency spectrum in the 700MHz, 800MHz, 2600MHz, and 3500MHz bands. Mobile operators use the spectrum frequencies to expand their network coverage and rollout new technologies such as 4G and 5G.
"The current information memorandum is primarily focused to proceed with the licensing of the unsold 'Lot 9' in the 800 MHz radio frequency band, resultant from the inaugural auction, and those mid band IMT radio frequency channels that are currently and immediately available," said Icasa councillor Peter Zimri.
Icasa had previously stated that there was an unsold spectrum lot of 2x10MHz in the IMT800 band, which will be licensed in future.