1923–1989 In
South Africa, the first radio and television broadcasts were done in 1923 and 1976 respectively. The first Broadcasting Act was promulgated in 1936 and it established the
South African Broadcasting Corporation (
SABC) solely for radio broadcasting. In 1976, the Broadcasting Act was amended to include television broadcasting. The
SABC acted as a state broadcaster and was used as a political propaganda instrument of the government to support its policies. The
SABC had monopoly over the airwaves even though there were some free-to-air broadcasting services in the former
Bantustans. These broadcasting services (like Radio Bop, Bop TV, Capital Radio and Radio 702) partially overlapped from the Bantustan areas into certain parts of
South Africa.
Telecommunications was provided and regulated by a monopoly parastatal, the South African Post and Telecommunications (SAPT). In the late 1980s, certain aspects of the
telecommunications market were liberalised. The Private Automatic Branch Exchange (
PABX) and Value-added Network Service (VANS) markets were opened up to competition.
1990–2006 In 1990 the Viljoen Task Group was appointed to investigate the future of broadcasting. At the same time the
SABC initiated a process of internal restructuring. The restructuring was aided by the Jabulani! Freedom of Airwaves Conference which took place in the
Netherlands in 1991. This conference made recommendations that set the terms of public debate. In 1991,
Telkom SA Limited (Telkom) was established as a parastatal to undertake the provision of
telecommunications services in
South Africa. It separated from SAPT, which acted as an industry regulator. In the beginning of 1992, the Congress of Democratic South Africa (
CODESA) started negotiations on the future democratic political dispensation of the country, the drafting of the Interim Constitution, the Local Government Transition Act and the establishment of the Independent Broadcasting Authority Act (the IBA Act). The IBA Act was designed to provide, among other things, for the licensing of commercial and community broadcasters (these were not allowed under the apartheid government) and for the transformation of the
SABC from a state to a public broadcaster. However, telecommunications reform remained unaddressed at the negotiations and in 1993 the apartheid government proceeded to license two mobile cellular operators (
Vodacom and
MTN). After the 1994 elections, the National Telecommunications Forum (NTF), including government, business, labour, user groups and civic organizations was established as the key stake-holder forum which debated the Telecommunications Green and White Papers.
South Africa's telecommunications reform process culminated in the Telecommunications Act of 1996. The key aspect of this act was the establishment of an independent regulator, SATRA, to regulate the telecommunications sector. Telkom was also granted exclusivity to provide basic telecommunications services for a period of five years with an option for a further year of exclusivity should it meet its roll-out targets. On 1 July 2000, the Independent Communications Authority of
South Africa (ICASA) was established. It was established as a single electronic communications regulator in the country in terms of the ICASA Act of 2000 merging SATRA with the IBA. In 2001, the second wave of re-regulation of the telecommunications industry took place with the passage of the Telecommunications Amendment Act of 2001. This Act introduced some far-reaching changes to the existing regime, for an example, the provision for the Second Network Operator (SNO) as of 7 May 2002. In August 2001, the Minister of Communications issued policy directions which were amended in April 2002, setting out the process in relation to the licensing of the SNO (
Neotel) in broad terms. The third mobile cellular telephone operator license was issued on 22 June 2001 to
Cell C. On 19 August 2002, ICASA issued new national Mobile Cellular Telephone Service (MCTS) licenses in terms of section 37(1) of the Telecommunications Act to
Vodacom and
MTN. In 2002, two new pieces of telecommunications-related legislation were passed, the Electronic Communications and Transactions Act (ECT Act) of 2000 and the Regulation of Interception of Communications and Provision of Communication-related Information Act (Interception Act). The ECA of 2005 was passed and came into effect on 19 July 2006.
Since 2007 In 2013, ICASA led a state-wide campaign to encourage consumers to turn in their illegally-bought cordless phones, which were responsible for clogging the telecommunication networks with improper data properties. ICASA was also criticized for undermining the issue of high rates of mobile calls, and for not handling the monopolistic hold of MTN and Vodacom on the SA mobile market (91% of market shares). In 2012, the broadcast request of
TopTV (broadcaster of adult content channels
Playboy TV, Desire TV and
Private Spice) was refused by ICASA. In April 2013, ICASA allowed TopTV to broadcast between 8pm and 5am in April 2013 and then backtracked on its decision in July 2013. In July 2016, ICASA launched the 700 MHz, 800 MHz and 2.6 GHz spectrum licences but the North Gauteng High Court blocked this auction after Cell C requested further reviews of the process. In March 2021, the High court of Pretoria ordered ICASA to stop the biddings on the auction of the 5G spectrum that started in October 2020, after Telkom and Etv obtained an interdict in a separate case. In October 2021, ICASA reset the auction's deadline to March 2022. ==Mandate and purpose==