Icasa has announced its intention to conduct a market inquiry concerning the accessibility of telecommunications services in South Africa. This process is set to last until next year and addresses issues previously examined by the Competition Commission, Icasa itself, and the Department of Communications last month.
The notification was published in the Government Gazette on Friday under Section 4B of the Icasa Act and was signed by the regulator's chairperson, Motibi Ramusi. It highlights ongoing concerns regarding the availability of voice and broadband services for low-income households, rural residents, youth, and informal sector workers, despite reported progress in network coverage and mobile broadband penetration.
The objective of this investigation is to conduct a data-driven assessment to identify structural factors affecting costs, analyze the implications for household budgets, and determine potential regulatory or market intervention measures. Icasa aims to ascertain whether the 2022 spectrum auction benefited consumers.
No shortage of investigations
This auction generated R14.4 billion in state revenue, significantly exceeding the regulator's forecast of R8 billion. It was long promoted as a measure to lower consumer prices, but the subsequent sale has been repeatedly postponed and is now expected in Icasa's 2027 financial year.
The regulator has already disclosed evidence that obligations related to this auction are behind schedule. Its March ICT sector status report found that only 4,377 out of 21,878 state-owned operators required to connect under spectrum license terms had done so by October 2025—approximately 20%. The same report indicated that 5G population coverage reached 58% nationally, but only 7% in rural Eastern Cape, and noted that entry-level smartphones dropped to R399, removing devices as a primary barrier and leaving the price issue.
South Africa has not lacked investigations regarding citizen communication expenses. A market inquiry by the Competition Commission into the data transmission services market, initiated in 2017 and concluded in 2019, revealed structurally unfavorable pricing for poor mobile data and led to lower prices for basic packages. Icasa also conducted its own investigation into priority markets and mobile broadband services, publishing an analytical document in 2019 which established that retail mobile markets were often not competitively efficient, and access to facilities was highly concentrated.
In August, the Department of Communications and Digital Technologies released a tender for its own market analysis to determine why previous measures had not resulted in affordable voice and data services.
Prices have decreased, albeit unevenly. Prepaid customers who paid R100 per gigabyte in 2020 paid around R79 by 2025, and the postpaid 5GB package dropped from R199 to R99 over the same period. National averages show a more moderate picture: according to ITU scales, South Africa's average of approximately R20.50 per gigabyte is below the global average but trails 27 other African countries.
Interested parties have 10 working days from the publication of the Icasa notice to submit clarifying questions via a form the regulator will post on its website. Icasa then has 10 working days to publish a response memorandum, after which interested parties have 45 working days to reply to the questionnaire. This is followed by an analytical document available for public comment for another 45 working days, and only then can the regulator hold public hearings.
Counting working days from Friday and accounting for the December break, written responses are unlikely to arrive before the New Year. The analytical document, hearings, and any findings will likely be a matter of 2027 at the earliest.
The investigation also begins while Icasa defends its latest consumer intervention in court. MTN and Vodacom challenged the revised end-user and subscriber agreement rules published in January, which require operators to roll over unused data for at least one time and cease applying out-of-bundle tariffs without explicit consent. These rules take effect on January 23, 2027. Operators argue that the regulator exceeded its authority, failed to conduct a proper economic impact assessment, and did not consult adequately.
Communications Minister Siyalo Malatsi has placed the cost of communication at the top of his ministry's agenda, supporting municipal bureaucracy reform and stating to parliament in May that faster and cheaper internet is a central goal of his R2.55 billion budget.