In a shocking move from ICASA, the communications regulator in South Africa, a hold has been put on its applications to allocate frequencies to various local cell providers. This all sounds very complicated, but I’m going to attempt to spell it all out for you below, in words you’ll be able to understand.

Essentially, cellphones, and mobile bandwidth, all work on the 2,4ghz frequency. This frequency has been around for quite some time, and in order for South Africa’s communications to move out of the dark ages, we need to move forward. This means moving on to new frequencies, such as 800mhz and 2,6ghz, which allow for faster speeds and better signal penetration. With me so far?

With these frequencies, there is a high-demand for a piece of the pie, and each provider wishing to make use of them needs to apply with ICASA to be registered, and then have a specific spectrum of that frequency allocated to them. So, for instance, MTN would be allocated a certain portion, Vodacom another section, and Cell C and the rest another portion, etc. ICASA opened applications a while ago, but these have now been put on the backburner, while parliament figures out the politics and policies. No doubt some money is also changing hands under the table, but don’t quote me on that. That’s mere speculation.

What this means for you and me, is that telecoms in SA has it’s foot stuck in the mud yet again.That which was moving forward, i.e. faster internet speeds and better cell reception (particularly in rural areas) is standing still. Potential new jobs, network infrastructure development and progress have now also ground to a halt.

A little disappointing.

[Source: ITWeb]