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Wapa executive Paul Colmer joins the TechCentral podcast (listen below) to unpack why the association has made this call, and why it believes opening up the 6GHz band to unlicensed telecommunications providers could generate huge benefits for the country.

South Africa could benefit by up to nearly $58 billion over the next 10 years by getting ICASA to enable 1,200 license-exempt megahertz in the 6GHz band, helping the country to bridge the digital divide, as well as improve access to remote education, work, and commerce.

Our members get exclusive access to the full detailed report on how to make it work. WISPS (Wireless Internet Service Providers) have a golden business opportunity while also closing the economic inequality gap in South Africa.

You could probably get more reliable, fast connectivity at a price you can afford. Of the 38 million South Africans who used the Internet as of January 2021, 36 million did so on mobile. Not all of them used mobile data (just the mobile device connected to Wi-Fi). But a lot of South Africans are using prepaid or contract data. It’s the most expensive way to connect in this country and among the most expensive worldwide.

Average revenues for Internet service providers (WISPs) who responded to the Wireless Access Provider’s Association (WAPA) survey (76% of all members) exceed R3 billion, employing 2 785 people and serving more than 200 424 home and business customers.

Connection poverty is assassinating a generation of young, entrepreneurial South Africans who represent the future success, or failure, of our embattled nation. It’s also quietly throttling the numerous established businesses, the skills, experience and knowledge their many employees could offer the next batch, and the learnings, revenues, and reinvestments they could make to support the whole event.

South Africans who work from home, study online and try to keep their businesses alive rely on connectivity, without which it all ends. “Digital loadshedding” is small-fry compared with digital fratricide. ICASA is effectively snuffing the concerted and, quite frankly, miraculous efforts of so many businesses, workers and students, who have survived lockdown using nothing but cellular connectivity, by reclaiming 5G spectrum from the mobile networks.

Some ISPs are concerned about the timing of ICASA interim transformation requirements, suggesting that April 2022 does not give them enough time to establish effective agreements. 

We urgently need your feedback on Wi-Fi 6E regulatory so please check out that section if it’s a spectrum band that’s on your radar. Expect high-demand spectrum issue to go to court. As of the regulatory briefing on 16 August 2021 there was a draft settlement order being circulated by the parties involved.