Pretoria – The Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (“ICASA/the Authority”) received a court application on Tuesday, 22 December 2020, filed by Telkom in respect of the Invitation to Apply (“ITA”) for high demand spectrum or International Mobile Telecommunications (“IMT”) spectrum as well as the ITA for the Wireless Open Access Network (“WOAN”) both of which were issued on 2 October 2020.

The Authority is currently reviewing the court application and has engaged its legal representatives to oppose the court application. Furthermore, the Authority wishes to inform all prospective applicants that the date for submissions of applications in respect of the ITA for the IMT spectrum remains unchanged and is still 28 December 2020. This court application does not stop the Authority from proceeding with the receipt of applications in this regard.

Procedures for receipt of applications on 28 December 2020

Pursuant to the Disaster Management Regulations and Directions issued by Government in respect of COVID-19, ICASA has put measures in place to mitigate the risk of infections during the receipt of submissions.

The following health and safety protocols will be observed:

1. Every person/s visiting or entering ICASA premises will be subjected to temperature screening and completing a screening questionnaire before being allowed into the building. Only a person/s whose temperature is below the threshold of 37.3 degrees Celsius and show no symptoms associated with COVID-19 will be allowed access to the premises. Applicants are therefore advised to arrive early to avoid any delays that may be caused by the screening process.

2. The no mask, no entry principle shall apply.

3. Alcohol-based hand sanitisers (with a minimum of 70% alcohol) will be placed around the premises, particularly in the administration areas. Wet wipes will also be made available to wipe down surfaces and shared stationary after use.

4. To ensure that social distancing is observed, every person visiting the premises shall be obliged to follow floor markings around the administrative as well as in the viewing areas.

5. To avoid crowding, only two (2) representatives per applicant making a submission will be allowed in the administration area at any given time to administer the acknowledgment letter.

6. The ventilation in the administration and viewing areas will be increased by opening all exit doors.

The Authority would like to urge all persons visiting the premises to adhere to all health and safety protocols to minimise exposure to themselves and/or those around them to undue risk of infection.

Ends…

For all media enquiries please contact:

Paseka Maleka

Tel : (012) 568 3455

Cell : 079 509 0702

Email : pmaleka@icasa.org.za