MTN joins Telkom case against Icasa

• Mobile operator files legal challenge against regulator’s plan to cut off temporary spectrum

SA’s second-largest mobile operator, MTN, has added its voice to the growing chorus of telecoms operators rallying against the industry regulator’s plan to remove temporarily allocated radio waves in November, through a legal challenge filed on Friday.

MTN argues the plan would hit it and the public, who have benefited from congestion on the network being relieved by the temporary allocation.

In 2020, the Independent Communications Authority of SA (Icasa) assigned temporary additional radio frequency spectrum to the main mobile operators to cope with a surge in data traffic as the pandemic-induced lockdown cut off employees from workplaces, students from move would degrade telecoms services for customers.

Last week, Telkom filed a case to stop the temporary spectrum from being removed.

On Friday, MTN filed papers in support of Telkom’s case and lodged its own case challenging the Icasa decision.

“The termination of the temporary spectrum will have negative consequences for both MTN and the public at large,” the operator says in court papers, seen by Business Day. The company says the purpose of the counter-application is “to support the relief sought by Telkom and to seek additional relief”.

MTN says the first of the counter-applications “seeks to ensure the continued existence of the temporary spectrum licences awarded to MTN and other mobile operators” until such time as the second part “is