Dynamic spectrum licensing and LEO satellite services signal a new era for WISPs and wireless connectivity across South Africa
The Wireless Access Providers’ Association (WAPA) celebrates its 20th anniversary this year, and kicked off the festivities in March at its annual Gauteng industry event.
Themed “WAPA 20: Redefining the Wireless Landscape – Without Limits Since 2006,” the event, held at the prestigious Irene Country Lodge in Johannesburg, drew a record 140 attendees and 24 sponsors – a reflection of the industry’s growing momentum at a pivotal regulatory moment.
The anniversary comes as WAPA’s longest-running advocacy effort reaches fruition. At the event, ICASA Councillor Thabisa Faye confirmed that commercial licensing of dynamic spectrum in the lower 6GHz band (5.925–6.425 GHz) and the N77 5G band should be published by the end of the month.
Field trials conducted in KwaZulu-Natal in January demonstrated the technology’s real-world potential, with 5G radios in the 3.8–4.2 GHz band delivering download speeds of up to 200 Mbit/s over ranges exceeding four kilometres, including in non-line-of-sight conditions.
“The imminent opening of dynamic spectrum sharing is the biggest and most valuable thing ICASA has ever done in its history,” says Paul Colmer, Executive Member of WAPA.
“This has been a 14-year journey, from TV whitespace trials in Cape Town and Limpopo in 2012, through regulatory processes and a pandemic, to field trials that proved beyond any reasonable doubt that this technology works. Seeing it come to commercial reality is genuinely momentous.”
The technical foundation for dynamic spectrum sharing is the Universal Access Spectrum Switch, designed by CSIR’s Professor Luzango Mfupe. The system monitors primary spectrum users — such as fixed satellite services, and allocates available capacity to secondary users such as WISPs in real time.
Compatible equipment, including 6GHz radios and N77 5G routers, is already commercially available. Use cases span consumer broadband, private 5G networks for mining and manufacturing, campus connectivity, and backhaul to remote sites where fibre deployment is economically unviable.
The event also addressed the rapid arrival of Low Earth Orbit (LEO) satellite services in South Africa. Rather than viewing providers such as Starlink as competitors, Colmer and fellow speakers urged WISPs to embrace satellite as an additional technology in their portfolios.
Colmer noted that most customers require more than a satellite dish. They also need local networking expertise, mesh configuration, and responsive support: capabilities that established WISPs are uniquely positioned to provide.
“A WISP who offers fixed wireless, N77 5G, and satellite connectivity is not just surviving in this converged landscape, they are thriving,” Colmer said. “WISPs are the engineers with shoe leather on the ground in South African towns. We have the customer relationships that no satellite operator can replicate overnight.”
Looking ahead, WAPA is mobilising the industry around the upper 6GHz band, a further 700 MHz of spectrum currently contested between IMT cellular operators and fixed wireless providers globally.
Colmer called on all wireless industry stakeholders, including WISPs, vendors, satellite operators, and investors, to join WAPA and support its advocacy efforts, arguing that winning the upper 6GHz band would be transformative not only for commercial operators but for the millions of South Africans in underserved communities still without affordable internet access.
About WAPA
WAPA, established in 2006, is a non-profit trade association acting as a collective voice for the wireless industry. WAPA’s primary objective is to promote the growth of the wireless industry by facilitating self-regulation, promoting best practices, and educating both members and the market about new wireless technologies and business models. WAPA offers its members regulatory advice, technical training, a code of conduct, a forum for knowledge-sharing and business-enablement opportunities.
WAPA is positioned to be an interface between the government regulator (ICASA), network operators, service providers, and consumers. WAPA regularly makes submissions and presentations to the government on regulations affecting the wireless industry. WAPA is tirelessly lobbying for more progressive and efficient spectrum management in South Africa and is focusing on the possibilities of dynamic unlicensed spectrum for interference-free access.
Media enquiries: Lesley Colmer, WAPA
Contact details: 083-408-0151, [email protected]
Issued by: Michelle Oelschig, Scarlet Letter
Contact details: 083-636-1766, [email protected]