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Icasa puts mobile TV licensing on hold
February 25, 2009
By Thabiso Mochiko
The Independent Communications Authority of SA (Icasa) has shelved the mobile television licence process until it can finalise the allocation of frequencies for broadcasting services.
In December Icasa invited interested parties who already had broadcasting or telecoms licences to apply for frequencies to provide mobile TV using digital video broadcasting.
According to an industry source, the reluctant withdrawal, which came three days before the licence application deadline, was a response to pressure by e.tv. However, the broadcaster would neither deny nor confirm that it had put pressure on Icasa.
Icasa said it had decided it would be "in the interest of the communications industry at large to finalise the digital migration policy and frequency band plan before licensing any mobile digital video broadcasting services".
The withdrawal could further delay the testing of the service by the successful applicants before the 2010 Fifa World Cup. The government has made commitments to the local organising committee for the soccer event that by 2010 there would be mobile TV.
The service will be limited to major metropolitan areas: Durban, Johannesburg, Pretoria, Cape Town and their surrounding communities.
The move to the broadcasting digital platform from the old analogue system will free up frequencies that can be used for services such as mobile TV.
This means that coverage for mobile TV will be extended during the migration to the digital platform.
Asked why Icasa was not running in parallel the two processes of allocating mobile TV licences and frequencies, spokesperson Sekgoela Sekgoela said the regulator "thought it would be best if the other processes got completed first before the licensing is done".
Only two licences will be issued and not many companies are expected to apply, as there are only three cellphone network operators (which will have to be partners), few licensed TV broadcasters that will to provide the content, and two broadcasting signal distributors to provide the signals.
MultiChoice, which has been testing the mobile TV technology for more than two years, is expected to apply.
MultiChoice "respects" the decision by Icasa to withdraw the invitation, said Jackie Rakitla, general manager of corporate affairs.
In terms of the invitation, applicants were required to prove the ability to broadcast a minimum of 16 channels and have the capacity to source or produce content. They also have to prove their financial viability and sustainability.
The major cost to the operators will be upgrading all the designated cellphone towers in the licensed areas to transmit the digital signal. The other cost will be for reformatting content to be viewable on the tiny screens of cellphones.
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