Reference
South Africa's dynamic spectrum regime, tracked.
The Innovation Spectrum regulations are gazetted but not in force. The NRFP 2026 identifies upper 6 GHz for potential IMT use — and the feasibility studies are now published for consultation. This page follows what has happened and what is still pending.
Sourcing status — please read before citing this page.
Verified against the gazettes themselves (PDF retrieved, masthead read): the final Innovation Spectrum regulations (GG 54718, Notice 7501, 22 May 2026); the National Radio Frequency Plan 2026 (GG 55046, Notice 4044, 24 July 2026); the feasibility studies for additional IMT bands including 6425–7125 MHz (GG 55046, Notice 4043, 24 July 2026); the draft mmWave Exclusive Geographic Areas notice (GG 55046, Notice 4041); and ICASA's first incumbent-information request (GG 50850, Notice 2593, 21 June 2024).
Still not verified: the citation for the second (July 2024) information request, the draft-RFSAP notice number reported in GG 55046, the 2025 hearing dates, the January 2026 KwaZulu-Natal field-trial figures, the 2 July 2026 ministerial approval date, and the IMT Roadmap 2026 gazette (GG 55068), which is reported in ICASA's own release but has not been retrieved. Items carrying an unverified badge below are exactly that — check the gazette before relying on them.
Corrections are welcome — see the foot of this page.
Pending — the things that change the picture
| Awaiting | Status | Why it matters |
|---|---|---|
| s.24 commencement notice | Pending | Brings the Innovation Spectrum regulations into force. Until it is issued, the regime is law on paper and not in operation. |
| USS provider designation | Pending | Determines who operates the coordination database that the whole sharing regime depends on. |
| Upper 6 GHz feasibility study | In consultation | Published 24 July 2026 (GG 55046, Notice 4043 — verified). The accommodate-or-migrate question is open for public input: written representations close at 16:00 on 4 September 2026 (Notice 4043, pp. 5 and 33), with representations open for public inspection from 11 September 2026. The window for occupancy evidence is running against that date. |
| RFSAP and channel plan, upper 6 GHz | Promised | Follows the feasibility study. |
| Draft mmWave EGAs | Watch | 24.25–27.5, 37.5–43.5, 45.5–47 and 47.2–48.2 GHz. Longer horizon. |
How we got here
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2020
Framework to qualify as a secondary geo-location spectrum database operator
Government Gazette 43398 citation unverified. Established that database operation is open to third parties, not reserved to a single institution.
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1 April 2021
TVWS regulations in force
Database-mediated spectrum sharing begins operating in South Africa.
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26 March 2024
ICASA findings and position paper on dynamic spectrum access
Direction set for a database-mediated sharing regime.
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21 June 2024
ICASA requests information on systems in 3800–4200 MHz and 5925–6425 MHz
GG 50850, Notice 2593 — verified against the gazette itself. A request for technical information on incumbent systems in the two innovation bands, following the March 2024 DSA findings and position paper. Note: the notice's own title prints "5295 to 6425 MHz" — an apparent typographical error for 5925 MHz.
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July 2024
A further request for supplementary information
Issued seeking information to supplement what had been received. Precision matters: this shows the regulator required additional incumbent information; it does not establish that every existing record was defective. citation unverified
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28 March 2025
Draft DSA and opportunistic spectrum management regulations published
Gazette 52415, Notice 6066 draft citation unverified. Opens a consultation that ran roughly fourteen months.
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Late 2025
Public hearings
Submissions on the public record from satellite operators, equipment vendors, industry associations and engineering houses.
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January 2026
Field trials at Ntuzuma and Ixopo, KwaZulu-Natal
5G standalone in 3.8–4.2 GHz. Reported at 200 Mbit/s beyond 4 km, non-line-of-sight — reported figure, source unverified. The technology question is settled; the coordination question is not.
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22 May 2026
Final Innovation Spectrum regulations gazetted
Government Gazette 54718, Notice 7501 — verified against the gazette itself. Provides for licensed use in 3800–4200 MHz and licence-exempt use in 5925–6425 MHz, with a unified spectrum server for coordination. Not yet in force — commencement on a date ICASA determines under the regulations' own commencement provision. contents summary pending full-text read
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2 July 2026
National Radio Frequency Plan 2026 approved
Approved by the Minister of Communications and Digital Technologies ahead of gazetting. date unverified — only the 24 July gazetting has been checked against the instrument.
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24 July 2026
NRFP 2026 gazetted
GG 55046, Notice 4044 — verified against the gazette itself. The National Radio Frequency Plan 2026 (8.3 kHz–3000 GHz), identifying 6.425–7.125 GHz for potential IMT use.
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24 July 2026
Feasibility studies for additional IMT bands — published for consultation
GG 55046, Notice 4043 — verified against the gazette itself. Covers 1880–1900 MHz, 3600–3800 MHz, 4800–4990 MHz and 6425–7125 MHz. These are published consultation documents, not final implementation instruments — and the upper-6 GHz evidence window is therefore open now. Written representations close at 16:00 on 4 September 2026 (pp. 5 and 33); representations open for public inspection from 11 September 2026.
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24 July 2026
Draft mmWave Exclusive Geographic Areas — published for consultation
GG 55046, Notice 4041 — verified against the gazette itself. EGAs for RFSAPs in 24.25–27.5, 37.5–43.5, 45.5–47 and 47.2–48.2 GHz. Draft RFSAPs are also reported in the same gazette notice number unverified.
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27 July 2026
ICASA publishes the draft IMT Roadmap and implementation plans
Announced in ICASA's own release, which cites Government Gazette 55068, dated 24 July 2026. not verified against the instrument — the gazette has not been retrieved and the notice number is unconfirmed. The release states the roadmap targets roughly 18,588 MHz of broadband spectrum by 2030, against about 850 MHz assigned today.
The upper 6 GHz question
The band identified for IMT — 6.425 to 7.125 GHz — is not empty. It carries licensed point-to-point microwave links, including mobile operator backhaul, and satellite uplinks. Roughly 700 MHz of prime mid-band spectrum sits behind the question of what happens to those incumbents.
Accommodation and migration are both expensive, in different directions and for different parties. Deciding between them requires knowing what is actually there: which links are live, how heavily loaded, at what times, in which geographies.
This is not our framing of the question — it is the instrument's. The feasibility study records fixed-service incumbents across the whole band and fixed-satellite service use in 6425–7075 MHz, and puts the direction as coordination or migration, with a radio frequency spectrum assignment plan in development (GG 55046, Notice 4043 — verified).
The same notice summarises where the parties stand (Table 4, pp. 39–40). Huawei, Telkom, Cell C, Qualcomm and MTN support an IMT allocation, MTN arguing that large contiguous blocks are what carry the value. Vodacom supports the study but wants a consultative process before any incumbent is migrated. The Dynamic Spectrum Alliance, WAPA, the WFA and Viasat argue against, variously on device ecosystem, migration cost, interference to incumbents and existing satellite use of the band. Every one of those positions turns on what the band actually carries.
One line in the study is worth reading closely. It records the ITU's suggestion that a registry of all fixed-satellite earth stations be compiled (para 5.2). Whether South Africa already holds such a registry, in any form, is not something this site establishes. But an international body is on the record proposing that an incumbent registry be compiled, in the instrument now out for comment. Compiling a registry and measuring against it are different problems, and the second is the one this network exists to answer.
The notice also puts indicative numbers on what the question is worth: the 2024 Hong Kong auction as a valuation reference, at roughly R50 million per 10 MHz in 2025 Rands, and a hypothetical 500 MHz cost-model scenario in which one modelled operator avoids on the order of R2.3 billion, or about R7 billion across three. The avoided-cost figures are modelled indications inside a consultation document, not observed savings, and the auction figure is a reference drawn from another market — which is exactly the point. A decision of that size is currently being argued from declarations and models.
ICASA operates its own fixed spectrum-monitoring stations. We have not found a continuous occupancy dataset published from them, and we have not identified any continuous, independently measured occupancy record for this band available to inform the study. The registry describes what was declared — and over an adjacent band, the regulator's own further information request shows more incumbent information was needed after the first round.
The study happens once. Occupancy measurement is not retroactive — a baseline that was not collected in 2026 cannot be collected in 2028. Whatever evidence exists when the study runs is the evidence the decision is made on.
What the regime is designed to do
The Innovation Spectrum framework is expressly aimed at non-dominant players, SMMEs and community network operators, and is described in the regulations as non-market-based and non-competitive. It is industrial policy as much as spectrum policy: an attempt to open mid-band spectrum to operators who would never win a conventional auction.
That design choice has a consequence. A sharing regime serving small operators only works if incumbent protection is accurate. Protect too aggressively and the spectrum is sterilised for exactly the operators the regime exists to serve. Protect too loosely and the incumbents suffer interference they are licensed against.
The margin between those failures is set by the quality of the incumbent data.