Department of Communications
The deadline has been extended for written submissions on proposed policy directives for high-demand spectrum services and exploiting the digital dividend.
According to notice 80 of Government Gazette 34996 dated 1 February 2012, the new deadline is 29 February 2012.
A separate notice on the department’s website states that the frequency bands “open for public comment” are the 2.6 GHz band and 800 MHz band, “also known as the high demand and digital dividend respectively”.
The proposed policy directives to the Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (ICASA) were published on 14 December 2011 in notice 898 of Government Gazette 34848.
A note in the document outlining the background to the proposed policy directive for high-demand spectrum services states that:
• the frequency band 790 - 862 MHz (800 MHz) “is ideally suited for achieving broadband nation-wide coverage, (and) in building penetration and indoor coverage”;
• the frequency band 2500 - 2690 MHz (2.6 GHz) “is ideally suited to providing the high capacity needed to carry traffic in densely populated areas”;
• because broadband wireless coverage in a given area can be achieved with fewer base stations than “a roll-out of the same coverage at a 2000 MHz range” the use of 800 MHz will deliver “mass market broadband” at a lower cost; and that
• its combination with 2.6 GHz is:
- key to universal broadband access and coverage; and
- will assist government in delivering “an efficient, competitive and responsive infrastructure network”.
Regarding the proposed policy directive on exploiting the digital dividend, the document’s background note states that:
• its principal objective is to ensure that benefits from the digital dividend are “maximised”; and that
• actions taken in this regard comply with the provisions of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) regional agreement on planning digital terrestrial television broadcasting services.
The policy directive also proposes that ICASA should conduct an enquiry into the “rational and efficient exploitation of the remaining very high frequency (VHF) and ultra-high frequency (UHF) spectrums for future digital dividends, and report to the minister on the following issues:
• future spectrum requirements for all three spheres of digital terrestrial television broadcasting (public, community, commercial) over the next ten years;
• future spectrum requirements for digital sound broadcasting after analogue switch-off;
• future spectrum requirements for mobile broadband applications within the digital dividend over the next ten years;
• the possible use of ‘white space’ technologies; and
• implementing “large and small multiplexes within the framework of the national digital broadcasting frequency plan.
Sabinet Cape Town Office
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