S.Africa aims to auction 4G, 5G spectrum next March

JOHANNESBURG: South Africa will restart efforts this month to auction off 4G and 5G high-speed spectrum licences for telecom operators with a view to offering them next March, the regulator said on Friday.

The country’s first auction of telecoms licences has been mired in bureaucratic red tape for almost a decade but President Cyril Ramaphosa has made it a cornerstone of his agenda to bolster growth in Africa’s most industrialised economy.

It had been due to take place this March before MTN Group Ltd and Telkom filed two separate cases against the regulator asserting the process was flawed.