The pooling deal is the subject of a lawsuit by Vodacom, which has claimed that it has given rival MTN South Africa an unfair advantage in network performance. The matter is enrolled at the high court in Pretoria.
"The primary concern that Telkom addresses is that Icasa granted these approvals for spectrum pooling without giving Telkom, or other interested and affected parties, an opportunity to comment on the applications for such approvals," said Nozipho Mngomezulu, group executive for regulatory and legal affairs at Telkom, in an affidavit.
TechCentral first reported in May that Vodacom had filed an application with the high court seeking an urgent interdict to stop rival MTN from using 'spectrum pooling" arrangements that it claimed were 'secretly" and "unlawfully" approved by Icaca in June 2022.
As the sixth respondent in the case, Telkom has agreed with Vodacom's assertion that Icasa's approvals were indeed done in secret, saying the approvals have undermined the regulatory safeguards woven into the spectrum auction process.
Telkom's reasoning aligns with Vodacom's assertion that Icasa ought to have consulted the Competition Commission before granting regulatory approval to MTN, Cell C and Liquid for the "pooling" of spectrum. Telkom said spectrum arrangements which allow a mobile operator to increase its spectrum capacity can have a material impact on competition and the proper regulation of the market.
