South Africa’s telecoms sector operators have been waiting for the planned auction of the country’s broadband spectrum. The Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (Icasa) started receiving applications for spectrum licences on 2 October this year. One of the major challenges in re-distributing the valuable lower frequency band is that broadcasters have not migrated away from the frequency that offers the best coverage in homes and buildings. Telkom says it is hesitant to pay for spectrum that is still being used by broadcasters, without a guarantee that the band will be freed for use. Telkom says it is on the back foot because competitors have already been allocated spectrum on this band, while Telkom has no sub-1GHz spectrum. The company told MyBroadband it tried to engage with the regulator over its concerns but was ignored. -Melani Nathan