JOHANNESBURG – Vodacom CEO Shameel Joosub has called on government speed up the allocation of more spectrum to service providers.
Spectrum refers to the frequencies and more spectrum means better quality service and faster download speeds.
The telecommunications giant was the first network to reach an agreement with the Competition Commission to cut data prices.
Joosub said they were not the only ones to blame for high data costs.
He said that government last allocated high demand spectrum 16 years ago, which hindered the lowering of data prices.
“I think it’s key we talk about 4IR. We need the spectrum to be allocated for all that underlying infrastructure that is desperately needed.”
Trade and Industry Minister Ebrahim Patel said the Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (Icasa) was working on this.
Icasa has indicated that it would start auctioning off spectrum for both 5G and 4G bands later this year.