Minister Cwele confident over Icasa legal battle

George - Telecoms and Postal Services Minister Siyabonga Cwele is confident that his office can win a lawsuit to stop a high-speed broadband auction from going ahead.

Cwele’s office earlier this year asked the North Gauteng High Court to interdict and set aside the Independent Communication Authority of South Africa’s (Icasa) planned spectrum auction.

In July, Icasa invited applicants to apply for 700MHz, 800MHz and 2.6GHz spectrum licences, which will boost the rollout of faster LTE broadband.

But Cwele is fighting the auction on grounds that government’s policy regarding spectrum has not yet been finalised and that the sale risks only benefitting big companies with deep pockets.

And Cwele, speaking on the sidelines of the Southern Africa Telecommunication Networks and Applications Conference (Satnac) in George on Monday, said he is awaiting a court date.

“The sooner it happens the better for us so that we could resolve this and then start moving South Africa forward,” he said.

“I was not going to go to the court if I knew there’s no prospect. The effects we have put forward, I believe, are quite strong,” he told Fin24.

Cwele’s bid to halt the auction has been supported by Telkom, which last month said it is also mulling legal action against Icasa over the planned spectrum auction.

South Africa’s third largest mobile network Cell C has also questioned the auction, alleging that it could entrench the ‘duopoly’ of Vodacom and MTN.

READ: Minister Siyabonga Cwele threatens to sue Icasa

“I am also happy that now some in the industry are seeing the very same effects and they are putting them forward much stronger than us because they are seeing the effects as the industry,” he added.

Vodacom and MTN, though, have called for the auctioning of this spectrum to help with the rollout of faster LTE broadband services for South Africans.

Meanwhile, Icasa has previously said that it acted lawfully in inviting bidders for the spectrum auction.

*Fin24 is hosted by Telkom at the Satnac event in George. 

@KyleVenktess on Twitter.