By Paul Colmer, Executive Member, WAPA
There is something wonderfully fitting about marking twenty years of fighting for wireless connectivity in South Africa at precisely the moment the industry’s two biggest game-changers are finally landing.
WAPA’s 20th anniversary celebrations kicked off in earnest on 19 March 2026 at Irene Country Lodge in Gauteng, and the theme – “WAPA 20: Redefining the Wireless Landscape – Without Limits Since 2006” – could not have been more apt. A record 140 attendees and a remarkable 24 sponsors showed up to celebrate, and frankly, to bear witness. Because the industry is changing – dramatically, irreversibly, and in mostly wonderful ways.
Two forces are reshaping the landscape: the imminent commercial licensing of dynamic spectrum in the lower 6GHz band, and the unstoppable arrival of Low Earth Orbit (LEO) satellite services. Neither is a distant prospect. Both are here. And both represent enormous opportunity for every WISP in this country – if we’re smart enough to seize them.
The spectrum breakthrough we’ve been waiting for
For those of us who have been in this industry long enough, the imminent official licensing of dynamic spectrum in the lower 6GHz band (5.925–6.425GHz) and the N77 5G band feels a little surreal.
I’ve personally been on this particular journey for 14 years – it started with TV whitespace trials in Cape Town and Limpopo back in 2012, crawled through regulatory processes, survived a pandemic, and ultimately produced field trials that proved, beyond any reasonable doubt, that this technology works.
Forgive a slightly emotional tone when I say: the imminent opening of dynamic spectrum sharing is the biggest and most valuable thing ICASA has ever done in its history.
At January’s KwaZulu-Natal field trials, 5G radios operating in the 3.8–4.2GHz band delivered download speeds of up to 200Mbit/s directly to compatible handsets and 5G routers, achieving coverage ranges exceeding four kilometres – including in non-line-of-sight conditions that have traditionally been WiFi’s nemesis.
The spectrum was pristine. The performance was extraordinary. And at the Gauteng event, ICASA Councillor Thabisa Faye confirmed what everyone in the room had been waiting to hear: commercial licensing will be published by the end of March 2026. That is a genuinely monumental milestone.
The technical architecture that makes all of this possible is the Universal Access Spectrum Switch, designed by CSIR’s Professor Luzangu Mfupe – the same brilliant mind behind South Africa’s TV whitespace geolocation database.
The switch monitors primary users (such as fixed satellite services sharing the same spectrum) and allocates available capacity to secondary users like WISPs in real time. It is elegant, it is proven, and the equipment – 6GHz radios, N77 5G routers and handsets – is already on shelves, waiting for the green light.
The use cases extend well beyond consumer broadband. We are now looking at private 5G networks for mission-critical operations in mining and manufacturing, campus networks for universities and corporates, and – perhaps most excitingly – a viable pathway for backhaul to remote sites where fibre is economically impossible. For the first time in a long time, the economics of rural connectivity genuinely work.
I also want to take a moment to acknowledge Councillor Faye personally. As she approaches the end of her term at ICASA, I believe history will record that she delivered more tangible value to this industry than any ICASA councillor before her.
That deserves to be said clearly and publicly. At the fireside chat I hosted with Councillor Faye and Prof Mfupe, we walked through the full regulatory journey – and it was a reminder of just how much perseverance, expertise, and sheer stubbornness it takes to move a spectrum initiative from concept to commercial reality.
The satellites are coming – and that’s good news
Let me tell you a story. A customer calls me: “Can I have internet access?” I tell him to fill out a form. He does. Five WISPs call him back. Not one offers a satellite option. That, friends, is a missed opportunity of the highest order – and it needs to stop.
Whether you like it or not, Elio, Starlink, and their orbital siblings are arriving in South Africa. They are here, they are growing, and they are emphatically not here to kill the WISP. They are here to give us another arrow in the quiver.
Peter Zimry, former ICASA stalwart and now of Zimri Consulting, made this case compellingly at the Gauteng event: satellite internet, in many respects, is essentially a box-drop. A dish lands on a roof and yes, it delivers internet.
But most customers don’t just want internet. They want WiFi that reaches the back bedroom. They want networking. They want someone who understands mesh routing, who can configure a guest network, and who they can actually call when something goes wrong. That is a WISP.
As Dr Dawie de Wet from Q-KON highlighted, WISPs are the engineers with shoe leather on the ground in most South African towns. We know the terrain. We understand the local interference environment. We have the customer relationships that no satellite operator, however well-capitalised, can replicate overnight.
There are already attractive reseller models available – several were represented at the Gauteng event – and the message is simple: add satellite to your portfolio. A WISP who offers fixed wireless, N77 5G and satellite connectivity is not just surviving in this converged landscape. They are thriving.
The thread running through the entire day was one of unity and convergence. We are not heading towards a fragmented, mutually hostile wireless landscape. We are heading towards one in which WISPs become the administrators and integrators of multiple technologies simultaneously. That is a remarkable evolution from pointing a radio off a water tower and hoping for the best.
A call to arms
As much as this moment deserves celebration – and it genuinely does – there is another battle that still needs to be fought and won.
Above the lower 6GHz band sits a further 700MHz of spectrum in the upper 6GHz band, currently the subject of a fierce global argument between IMT cellular operators who want it for mobile broadband, and WISPs and fixed wireless operators who can demonstrate, with evidence, that we are far better suited to deploy and exploit it.
Like the lower band, we have equipment ready and waiting. Like the lower band, the cellular operators are arguably ill-equipped for what this spectrum can deliver in a fixed wireless context. Unlike the cellular operators, we have the deployments, the business models, and the communities to serve. But we only win this if we make enough noise.
Every single stakeholder in the wireless ecosystem – WISPs, resellers, technology vendors, satellite operators, integrators, investors – benefits when the wireless industry in South Africa thrives. The opening of the upper 6GHz band would be transformative, not only for commercial operators, but for the millions of South Africans in underserved communities who are still waiting for affordable, reliable internet access.
So here is my ask, plain and simple: join WAPA. Become part of the collective voice that has spent 20 years fighting for spectrum, for sensible regulation, and for connectivity that reaches those who need it most.
We have achieved extraordinary things as an industry association. Dynamic spectrum licensing, achieved against all odds in record time. A community of WISPs who have literally built South Africa’s rural internet infrastructure from the ground up. An anniversary worth celebrating.
But the work is not done. The more of us who stand together behind WAPA’s advocacy on the upper 6GHz band, the better our chances of winning it – and winning it for the benefit of every South African who still cannot afford to be connected.
Twenty years without limits. Let’s make the next twenty count even more.
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]