South Africa’s telecommunications and postal services minister Siyabonga Cwele has won a court ruling to halt the Independent Communications Authority of South Africa's planned spectrum auction. The North Gauteng High Court in Pretoria ruled that Icasa must halt its invitation issued in July to apply for spectrum rights and not take any further steps to advance the process, pending an application by mobile operator Cell C for the court to review the process.
In July, Icasa issued the invitation for licences in the 700, 800 and 2,600 MHz bands. However, Cwele challenged the licensing process, saying the regulator should have waited until the department had finalised its ICT Policy White Paper and provided input on the process. The latter was approved by the Cabinet on 29 September, ITWeb reported.
Icasa said in a statement that it was pleased that the court upheld its independence, with no argument against "ICASA’s choice not to wait indefinitely for the Minister’s Policy to see the light of day". The main basis of the ruling was that Icasa could not act to issue the spectrum to mobile operators while other, non-mobile companies were already using the spectrum in question. The regulator could not migrate the current spectrum users without the minister’s participation, and an orderly process requires co-ordination between the minister and Icasa, the court said.
The judgement states that the assignment of spectrum already assigned to other operators was found to be "possibly an irrational decision". Accordingly, Icasa may not proceed with the spectrum allocation until the court considers Cell C's petition.
