South African telecommunications operator Neotel is interested in acquiring additional WiMAX spectrum and said it will bid on the 2.6GHz spectrum when the Independent Communications Authority of SA puts it on auction. The firm said the spectrum would enable the firm to provide mobile WiMAX services to the consumer market. Neotel's head of enterprise business group and the Network Operations Centre Stefano Mattielo noted that the company already had 56MHz of spectrum in the 3.5GHz range. This spectrum was allocated as part of the second national operator's initial licensing conditions, which stipulated it would be licensed under conditions that are no less advantageous than Telkom. Neotel used the spectrum to develop its fixed wireless WiMAX network, which enables it to provide services for the enterprise market. Mattiello noted that ICASA had a lot of work to do before WiMax spectrum would become available for auction. Last week, ICASA published the regulations which explained how it planned to allocate spectrum, with the remaining 2.6GHz going to auction. The spectrum in the 3.5GHz band has already been allocated.

Source:Telecompaper