TELKOM is taking Icasa to court to try to stop the communications regulator’s planned withdrawal of temporary spectrum at the end of next month, saying the move would disrupt the provision of services and harm consumers.
Icasa originally made the spectrum available on an emergency basis in April 2020 to interested licensed operators due to the Covid-19 pandemic. It has since extended the allocation of the temporary spectrum on several occasions. However, it said on 31 August that it intended to withdraw the spectrum on 30 November 2021 as it was never meant to be licensed in perpetuity.
The regulator said it was worried that extending the granting of the spectrum indefinitely would distort the market and was unfair to licensees that chose not to apply for it back in 2020. It also suggested it was no longer needed as many people had returned to their offices and were therefore
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