[November 01, 2010]

Research and Markets: The Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (ICASA) Should Meet Its New Deadline of Auctioning Spectrum by the End of Fiscal 2010

Research and Markets (http://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/b92a00/south_africa_coun) has announced the addition of the "South Africa (country regulation overview)" report to their offering.

The South African telecoms market is one of the most technologically advanced markets in Africa. However, it is still dominated by two players: in the fixed-line market the incumbent, Telkom South Africa (Telkom), continues to be the dominant player, while Vodacom (News - Alert) controls the majority of market share in the mobile market.

Although the regulator, The Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (ICASA), has conducted consultations on several market issues, it has been relatively slow in finalizing and implementing egulations. As a result, despite the presence of several alternative providers, there is limited competition in the market.

However, ICASA took a more proactive approach in 200910, finalizing several retail and wholesale regulations to encourage competition. It is also in the process of reducing mobile termination rates, which is likely to lead to a decline in retail tariffs across operators, making mobile services more affordable to end users.

ICASA's finalization of the licensing procedure for spectrum in the 2.6GHz and 3.5GHz frequency bands was also a positive step in this direction. However, ICASA had to suspend the auction process due to opposition from both the Minister of Communications and industry stakeholders. Although the actual auction process has been suspended for now, delaying the launch of LTE (News - Alert) and expansion of WiMAX services, we expect that ICASA will bring the consultation process on track to meet its new deadline of auctioning spectrum by the end of fiscal 2010.

Key Topics Covered:

• Fixed market overview
• VoIP
• Multi-play: dual, triple, and quad players
• Mobile market overview
• National regulatory authority
• Role of the countrys competition authority
• Key legislation and regulation
• Amendments
• Current status of market analysis
• Mobile licensing
• 3G licenses
• Wireless broadband access
• MVNOs
• Quality of service
• Wholesale fixed regulation
• Services subject to regulation
• Narrowband voice interconnection
• Cost model for RIO
• Fixed termination rates
• Services subject to regulation
• National roaming
• Mobile termination charges
• Mobile number portability
• Competition cases
• Current cases
• Universal service
• Universal service obligation
• Methodology
• List of Tables
• List of Figures

For more information visit http://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/b92a00/south_africa_coun

Source: Ovum (News - Alert)

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