Infraco To Launch Broadband In November

Broadband Infraco, the new State-Owned Enterprise (SOE) that will sell high capacity long distance transmission services to network service providers in South Africa, has confirmed that it will unveil its new ZAR1 billion (USD144.1 million) network during the third week of November.

The company has been plagued by licensing issues since its inception three years ago. The Broadband Infraco Act of 2007 stipulates that telecoms regulator the Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (ICASA) is obliged to issue Broadband Infraco both an Individual-Electronic Communications Network Services (I-ECNS) licence and an Electronic Communication Services (ECS) licence.

However, commercial ISPs objected to it receiving an ECS licence, as they claimed it would give the company an unfair advantage. In January 2010 ICASA bowed to communications minister Siphiwe Nyanda's policy directive, and only awarded the I-ECNS concession.

Broadband Infraco has since confirmed that it will operate exclusively within a wholesale business model, targeting both fixed and mobile operators, as well as internet service providers. Licensed operators may buy multiple capacity increments of 155Mbps - up to 10Gbps. Broadband Infraco’s lowest capacity service reportedly offers transmission speeds akin to 20 HD movies being screened simultaneously.

CEO Dave Smith commented: ‘In anticipation of receiving the I-ECNS licence, Broadband Infraco installed some 11,765km of fibre optic cable connecting Johannesburg, Pretoria, Cape Town and Durban and other large metropolitan centres including Bloemfontein, Kimberley, Port Elizabeth, East London, Nelspruit and Polokwane. The award of the Electronic Communications Services (ECS) licence from ICASA is the remaining piece of the puzzle for Broadband Infraco to deliver entirely on all aspects of its statutory mandate in accordance with applicable legislation’. According to Broadband Infraco, its network also extends connectivity to the borders of South Africa’s neighbouring countries, namely: Namibia, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Lesotho and Swaziland. The fibre-optic cables are scalable up to hundreds of gigabits of data per second, depending on future growth.

ICASA Issues Mobile TV Trial Licence

The Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (ICASA) has issued a one-year trial permit to the locally-owned Mobile TV consortium to trial Digital Multimedia Broadcasting (DMB) technology for broadcast mobile TV services under the name 'TV4U'. The group hopes to get a trial service up and running for 1,000 users in a month or so, after missing out in a recent auction of Digital Video Broadcast-Handheld (DVB-H) frequencies, which were awarded to E.tv and Multichoice.

ICASA Releases Bids For Spectrum Bands

South Africa’s Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (ICASA) has released its ‘Document on Spectrum Licensing Framework Regulations and Invitation To Apply for 2.6GHz and 3.5GHz Bands’.

Under the new guidelines, bidding will start at ZAR750,000 (USD98,000). ICASA requires 2.6GHz licensees to achieve population coverage of 50% within two years of being granted spectrum.

Vodacom, MTN, Cell C, Neotel and Telkom are all reported to be keen to get their hands on the spectrum, which is suitable for the deployment of Long Term Evolution (LTE) technology.

Only e.tv Gets Mobile TV Licence as Others Fail in Bid

The Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (ICASA) has awarded domestic terrestrial TV broadcaster e.tv a licence to provide broadcast mobile TV, but disqualified all three other bidders, reports Broadband TV News.

Two bids were rejected due to mistakes in their applications: Multichoice Africa’s submission was late whilst Super5Media simply failed to bind all copies of its papers.

Meanwhile, an application from The Mobile TV Consortium was deemed ineligible as it does not currently hold a broadcast licence, a pre-requisite for a mobile TV concession. MultiChoice has been piloting a mobile TV service in collaboration with South African cellco MTN for the past few years.

Mweb Targest SME's With Uncapped WiMAX Service

Mweb has launched an uncapped WiMAX offering targeted at the SME market. Speeds of up to 512kbps will be charged at ZAR299 (USD37.79) per month, speeds of up to 1Mbps will cost ZAR999, and a 4Mbps line will cost ZAR2,795, which is comparable to the costs of an uncapped ADSL package. The WiMAX service will be available in selected areas, including Sandton, Boksburg, Isando and Midrand, in Johannesburg and N1 City and the central business district in Cape Town. The company said it was using an open spectrum band for the service initially, while hoping to obtain spectrum in the 2.6GHz and 3.5GHz bands when the anticipated spectrum auction takes place.

In July 2009 the Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (ICASA) published draft regulations which outline the procedures and criteria for granting spectrum licences and suggested that four operators will be allocated 30MHz each in the 2.6GHz band, while licences in the 3.5GHz band will be awarded covering specific geographic catchment areas, with each operator receiving a maximum of 28MHz of spectrum per region.

Icasa Rushes Through Mobile TV Licences

South African broadcasting and telecoms regulator The Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (Icasa) is racing against time to issue mobile TV licences in time for the Soccer World Cup tournament starting on 11 June. Robert Nkuna, an Icasa councillor, was reported as saying that two multiplexes have been set aside for mobile TV. One multiplex can carry up to twelve TV channels, depending on the technology used. No company will be allowed to occupy more than 60% of a multiplex. MultiChoice, which has been testing mobile TV technology by streaming some of its existing pay-TV content to cellphones over the past three years in cooperation with various wireless network operators, is planning to apply for a licence. Its parent company, Naspers, said last year it had set aside ZAR98 million (USD13.4 million) for mobile TV services, which it has already launched in Kenya, Nigeria, Ghana and Namibia.

Interested parties have three weeks to submit their applications to Icasa. Nkuna said mobile TV licences would be offered on a technology-neutral basis. The second multiplex will be available after the regulator has opened the market for the second round of pay-TV licences.

In a separate announcement, Icasa has suggested an aggressive cut in mobile and fixed interconnection rates. The regulator has proposed a three-year glide-path for both mobile and fixed service licensees: mobile interconnection rates, currently set at ZAR0.89 per minute, are proposed to be reduced to ZAR0.65 from July 2010 and further reduced to ZAR0.40 from July 2012. Furthermore Icasa has proposed that fixed line interconnection rates be reduced to ZAR0.15 from July 2010 and ZAR0.10 from July 2012. Hearings related to the draft wholesale call termination regulations are set to be held at the beginning of June, and are set to be in place by the end of the month.

ISP's Support Infraco Over Telkom Monopoly

The Internet Service Providers Association of South Africa (ISPA) has released a statement backing state-owned cable operator Broadband Infraco to break Telkom’s stranglehold over national infrastructure, mybroadband.co.za reports. According to ISPA, the award of an individual-electronic communications network services (I-ECNS) licence from state regulator the Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (ICASA), along with its extensive fibre network which Broadband Infraco inherited from Transtel and Eskom, will allow the operator to realise its mandate of boosting the country’s broadband connectivity and bandwidth availability while lowering the cost of communications nationwide. The crippling cost of bandwidth has held back the South African data market, leaving Africa’s largest economy with a broadband penetration of just 2% at the end of September 2009.

In a press statement, ISPA said: ‘Broadband Infraco, provided it sticks to its mandate as a supplier of wholesale infrastructure to other operators and service providers, could redress this problem and help to spur greater competition in the market. At the same time, given the history of state-owned enterprises in the telecoms industry, ISPA will keep a vigilant eye on Broadband Infraco's activities to make sure that South Africa derives the maximum benefit from its activities… We believe that it is of great importance to ensure that this promising new venture does not eventually evolve into a partially privatised company with a profit motive and unfair advantages that competes against the private sector. Given the challenges facing the South African telecoms industry, we simply cannot afford to get this wrong.’

Telkom Disputes MTN Claims Over Service Quality

South Africa's dominant landline operator, Telkom has rejected the claims made last week by MTN's Managing Director, Tim Lowry, where he blamed Telkom - in part - for the mobile network operators quality of service difficulties.

In a statement, the landline operator said "It is ironic and unacceptable that every time some of the mobile operators are made to account for their network availability and reliability, blame is conveniently apportioned to Telkom. Over the last few weeks (the period for which the mobile operators have reportedly been asked to explain their network quality to ICASA), there were no extraordinary circumstances or network problems on the Telkom network that could have contributed to the problems encountered by MTN or the other mobile operators."

Also, Telkom noted that delays in messaging and dropped calls is not a function of its access or core network but a reflection of the switching and transmission capacity of the mobile operators' network dimensioning practices.

In view of these considerations, Telkom says that MTN should be challenged to prove to the public that the dropped calls and SMS issues can be directly correlated to Telkom over the past month.

Telkom also said that it has not only maintained its SLAs with all the mobile operators but has also provided links to the mobile operators in a prioritised way as dictated by them over the past 24 months.

ICASA To Meet Telecoms Over Service Quality

South Africa's three mobile network operators were called in for a meeting by the country's telecoms regulator yesterday following an increase in complaints about network quality. The issue came to a head when a reality TV show had to delay the announcement of a winner following delays in receiving SMS based votes from viewers.
Some of the affected areas included Germiston, parts of Sandton, Randburg, East Rand, North West, Mpumalanga and Limpopo.
According to the regulator, ICASA, the network operators largely cited factors outside their control, such as ongoing theft of copper wire from their backhaul networks and vandalism attacks. They also claimed that delays in setting up new base stations due to " environmental impact studies" is slowing capacity increases.
They also blamed interference caused by illegal and sub-standard cell phone handsets, although no details were provided.
With regard to the TV show, the problem could be attributed to the limited capacity of the transmission line connecting the SMS Centre and the service provider database. The Authority has instructed MTN, Cell C and Vodacom to effect a solution to the problems as soon as possible. Failing which, the complaints raised by consumers would be referred to the Complaints and Compliance Committee (CCC) for adjudication and possible penalties.
The regulator is planning to hold further meetings next month and start publishing a quarterly report on network quality performance.ds

ICASA Supports Vodacom, Telkom Deal

The Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (ICASA) has defended the controversial sale and unbundling of Telkom SA shares in the Vodacom Group to UK based Vodafone.

“The Authority has decided to accept the notification received from Vodacom and not to require Vodacom to seek the Authority’s approval in respect of the transaction. In reaching its decision, the Authority considered the Ownership and Control Regulations, 2002, which remain in effect in terms of section 95(2) of the ECA,” ICASA said in a statement.

Wokers in the South African telecommunications sector are opposed to the move and have taken the government and the companies to court over the transaction. ICASA absolved itself from any wrongdoing.

“The Ownership and Control Regulations indicate that the Authority can only intervene, that is, through an approval process, in a transaction for the transfer of beneficial ownership of shares in a licensee on condition that, amongst other factors, a “control interest” (as defined in the Ownership and Control Regulations) in the licensee has been transferred from one person to another and a market concentration exists,” it said.

“The Authority could not establish that a transfer of control interest has occurred in the transaction or that a market concentration exists in the market in which Vodacom operates in light of the fact that several individual ECS AND ECNS licences have now been issued by the Authority. The Authority is fully aware that any transaction of this magnitude is likely to raise a range of public interest issues. However, the Authority has decided to deal with public interest issues within the context of the existing Ownership and Control Regulations and the Electronic Communications Act.”