New standard terms and conditions and process regs for class and individual licences
A process to amend
- Standard terms and conditions for individual licences
- Standard terms and conditions for class licences
- Process and procedure regulations
was initiated by ICASA in July 2009 and the finalised amendments were published on 14 June 2010 (draft documents).
Standard Terms and Conditions for Individual Licences Regulations 2010
Licensing Process and Procedure Regulations Individual Licences 2010
Standard Terms and Conditions for Class Licences Regulations 2010
Licensing Process and Procedure Regulations Class Licences 2010
There is also a handy Reasons Document which explains why amendments were made (and why certain proposed amendments were not made).
Reasons Document Amendments to Standard Terms and Conditions and Process and Procedure Regulations
The Amendments will come into force on a date to be gazetted.
In general common sense seems to have prevailed:
- The term of an IECS licence has been standardised with that for IECNS licences at 20 years.
- The lead time for the filing of tariffs prior to putting them into service has been kept at 7 working days and not increased to 21 working days as ICASA proposed.
- “The Authority concurs with ISPA that person who intend to provide ancillary services or operate small electronic communications networks need not notify the Authority”. Previously the law had actually required that the thousands of Local Area Networks (LANs) and Wireless Local Area Networks (WLANs) be registered with it as licence exempt!
- They have brought some clarity to the distinction between notifications and amendments. A new Form O has been provided for notifications in respect of individual licences.
- They have cleaned up some of the mess around notifying exempts and temporary authorisations.
- “The Authority has decided to retain the term “end-user” as it is defined in the Act and extends to persons who use the service of a licensee. The Authority is of the view that the word ”public” [which ICASA wanted to use] is inconsistent with the Act and the word “subscriber” is limiting because it does not allow for remedies in relation to transactions between licensees.”
Updated 20090804: Hearings have been scheduled (finally) for 17-19 August 2009.
SATFA Review Hearings Schedule
ICASA has given Notice of Intention to Review the Radio Frequency Band Plan for the frequency range 9Khz to 1 000 GHz (i.e. pretty much everything). The current band plan is set out in the 2004 South African Table of Frequency Allocations (SATFA).
The revision covers the following:
– The extension of the table to cover the range 9 kHz to 1000 GHz. Previously the range was 20 MHz to 70 GHz.
- The alignment of the tenor of the table with the Electronic Communications Act and related legislation.
- The updating of the table in respect of changes made by World Radiocommunications Conference 1997, WRC 2000, WRC03, and WRC-07. In particular, national footnotes regarding IMT have been added.
- Allocation of spectrum that was previously reserved.
- Making spectrum available for new technologies and services.
- Increasing the amount of spectrum available for Mobile services and aligning land mobile sub-bands in the VHF with the rest of ITU Region 1.
Unfortunately the Notice is vague as to what amendments have been made outside of the addition of bands below and above the previous SATFA limits and the additional footnotes.
It would also be great to see an audit of exisiting allocations and the extent to which these are being efficiently utilised (or utilised at all) as the current conceptualisation of frequency as a scarce resource appears as a major obstacle to the introduction of competition and new technologies.
Comments are due by 16h00 on 29 August 2008.
Electronic Communications Act (36/2005): Intention to review the radio frequency band plan covering the range 9 KHz to 1 000 GHz
Part 1 [1.09MB .pdf]
Part 2 [0.98MB .pdf]
Part 3 [1.90MB .pdf]
Part 4 [1.56MB .pdf]
ICASA has indicated its intention to amend the standard terms and conditions applicable to individual and class licences as well as the regulations setting out licensing processes and procedures.
Comment is due by 24 August 2009.
Inquiry into use of 5725 – 5875 MHz Band for fixed wireless broadband accessUpdate: 15 June 2009
There is good news and there is bad news… .
The good is that it has been confirmed that the draft regulations do exist and that they set out ICASA’s proposal to allocate this band to Wireless Access Services (WAS) with a point-to-point eirp of 200W and a point-to-multipoint eirp of 4W. This would be a serious boon to the provision of better quality wireless access services in South Africa.
The bad news is that it appears that the document is sitting in limbo and has been for some time. It is not clear what the hold-up is but it probably relates to the continued under-staffing in ICASA’s Engineering Division.
enquiries are being made …
Download ICASA Inquiry into use of the 5725 – 5875 MHz Band for fixed wireless broadband access published 8 March 2006.
The findings document for this Inquiry appears to be missing in action. Informal indications from ICASA in May 2007 were to the effect that it would be published shortly and that the result would be to repurpose the band from short range devices at an eirp of 25mW to fixed wireless broadband access with an eirp of 2W or 4W.
The Inquiry was launched under section 27 of the Telecommunications Act so would be deemed to have been instituted under the ECA and a finding under the ECA is awaited. A finding as indicated above would amount in an amendment to the band plan as well as the ICASA Frequency Licence Exemption Regulations 2008.
Guide to Service Licence Exemptions under the ECAWe have prepared a guide to the various service licence exemptions created under the ECA and captured in the ICASA Licence Exemption Regulations, 2008. Service licence exemptions apply where an ECS or ECNS provider operates under a set of factual circumstances bringing it within the ambit of one of the regulated exemptions and where operation within the exemption has been registered with ICASA. There are also “network” exemptions under which certain types of network may be operated without an ECNS licence – these include local area networks (LANs and WLANs) as well as networks used primarily for the internal purposes of the network owner.
Download the ellipsis Guide to Service Licence Exemptions under the ECA.
Frequency Licence Exemption Regulations amendedICASA has acted quickly to amend the recently published ICASA Licence Exempt Frequency Regulations 2008 to correct the oversight that threatened to make the operation of hotspots and wireless LANs illegal without a frequency licence.
You can download the
Notice of Amendment
ICASA Licence Exempt Frequency Regulations 2008 as amended.
ICASA published new Regulations regarding Licence Exempt Electronic Communications Networks, Electronic Communications Network Services and Electronic Communication Services in terms of section 6 of the Electronic Communications Act 36 of 2005 on 29 July 2008.
Regulations on Licence Exemptions in respect of Radio FrequencyICASA published new Regulations in respect of Licence Exemptions in terms of Section 6 of the Electronic Communications Act read with section 31(6) in respect of radio frequency spectrum, ECS and/or ECNS on 29 July 2008. These regulations repeal General Notice 533 of 2004
RFID RegulationsICASA published final regulations relating to the re-allocation of spectrum to cater for Radio Frequency Identity (RFID) systems in June 2008.
Download the RFID Regulations 2008.
WUGs & neighbourhood watchesThe following (informal) opinion was provided to a SA WUG (or Wireless User Group) and relates to the lawfulness of the use of electronic communications in the form of surveillance cameras in the fight against crime.
opinion-on-licensing-neighbourhood-watch-mesh-network-012008
-
access
Altech
Broadband Infraco licensing
class licence registrations and applications
competition
Department of Communications
draft regulations
ECA
ECNS
ECS
existing Licenses
final regulations
frequency
ICASA
IECNS
individual licence applications
legislation
licence conversion
licence exempt
Licence exemption application
licensing
numbers
Open for comment
policy
self-provision
standard terms and conditions
Telecommunications Act
universal Access
universal service
VANS
This site and the content on it is intended to facilitate greater understanding of the regulation of electronic communications in South Africa. Content does not, obviously, constitute legal advice. If it did there would probably be an invoice attached. Please use the site to become better informed and save yourself some money if and when you do need to consult a suitably qualified advisor.
Contact