Acacia Economics

We are excited to announce that Rahma Leuner has joined us as a Principal Economist. Rahma has an MCom in Economics from the University of Cape Town, and has 10 years of experience working on the economics of competition and regulation at the Competition Commission and in consulting.

ICASA spectrum auction results in expanded fifth mobile operator in South Africa (rain South Africa), raising R14.5bn for the fiscus. Expect lower data prices soon from a lower cost, more competitive mobile sector. Acacia Economics assisted ICASA with the design of the auction.

ICASA hereby confirms the successful conclusion of the much-anticipated radio frequency spectrum auction today. The auction involved six qualified bidders i.e. Cell C, Vodacom, Telkom, Rain Networks, Liquid Intelligent Technology and MTN.
There was one unsold spectrum lot of 2x10MHz in the IMT800 Band. This lot will still be licensed by the Authority in future.

The next stage in the auction process will be the assignment round, which is purely an administrative process and will be held on Tuesday, 22 March 2022, to determine the actual spectrum ranges to be assigned for all the lots bought in the various bands. https://www.icasa.org.za/news/2022/icasa-concludes-successful-spectrum-auction-and-collects-more-than-r14-4-billion-proceeds

Megan Friday has just joined the team as a Junior Economic Researcher. She holds an undergraduate degree in law and economics, both an honours and a masters degree in economics, all from the University of Stellenbosch.

We are pleased to welcome Zubair Patel as a Junior Economic Researcher! Zubair works on the economics of competition and regulation. He holds an undergraduate degree in economics and finance and a master’s degree in economics from the University of Cape Town. He also received the class medal for Applied Time Series Analysis in his Master’s year.

ICASA has announced the invitation to apply for high-demand spectrum - we are pleased to have supported this :

Icasa on spectrum auction and licensing: full statement - TechCentral Communications regulator Icasa will on Wednesday publish the long-awaited invitation to apply for so-called high-demand spectrum. Watch the proceedings live on TechCentral at 4pm.

High Court holds that Telkom must enter into negotiations to lease its ducts, in favour of ICASA's decision - does this unleash a new wave of in South Africa? Decision here:

TELKOM VS ICASA & OTHERS - JUDGMENT.pdf

Reminder to join Sha'ista Goga and fellow panelists this afternoon for what promises to be an interesting discussion on the new buyer power regulations.

CCRED Webinar: Competition Commission Buyer Power Guidelines – towards greater certainty and support for SMEs? — CCRED - A leading university research group. 2 JUNE 2020, 16:00-17:15   Join CCRED for a special online panel discussion on the newly released buyer power enforcement guidelines!   Panelists: Mr Yongama Njisane, Principal Economist and Head of the Technical Committee on Grocery Retail Inquiry,&nbs

Now that e-commerce has been fully re-opened in South Africa, read Sha'ista Goga's article on how this can be used to support growth

Smart use of e-commerce now is likely to have long-term benefits SA can find a balance between support for small businesses, the need for jobs and health risks posed by different business models