Africa Briefs

SA telecoms regulator delays spectrum releaseSouth Africa's telecoms regulator said last week it now plans to auction high demand spectrum licences by no later than the end of March 2021, pushing back the process by three-months, due to a delay in issuing invites to apply.Allocation of high-demand spectrum is seen as key to expanding broadband services, especially 5G, in Africa's most industrialised economy, where the high cost of telecommunications is a barrier to doing business.Data costs have come down after mobile operators were forced to cut data prices, but they still argue that costs could drop significantly once regulators auction the much needed spectrum.The invitations for both the wholesale open-access network, or WOAN and commercial high-demand spectrum for mobile operators such as Vodacom, MTN and Telkom will be published no later than Sept. 30, the Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (ICASA) said in a statement.The delay in issuing the invites was caused by, among others, prioritising the release of Covid-19 emergency spectrum, not having a sufficient number of members of its council as well as additional considerations related to the viability of the WOAN, which will force operators to share spectrum, the ICASA added. – Nampa/AFPNigeria 'no longer in the business of fixing' pricesNigeria is "no longer in the business of fixing" fuel prices, Timipre Sylva, the minister of state for oil, said.Africa's largest oil producer had been spending 1 trillion naira (US$2.63 billion) a year subsidising petrol prices but the global oil price crash had made removing the subsidies "inevitable", Sylva told an online briefing."It is about the survival of our country, the economic survival," he said. "There are certain things that the country can ill-afford at this time."Sylva said prices would now fluctuate freely with international markets, and the ministry would become an "umpire" rather than a price-setter."Our duty now is to ensure the public is not cheated," he said. – Nampa/ReutersMalawi's economy to shrink 1.9%Malawi's economy will contract 1.9% this year because of instability caused by a presidential election re-run and the Covid-19 pandemic, president Lazarus Chakwera said in a state of the nation address on Friday.Addressing lawmakers in parliament, Chakwera said public debt had risen to 4.1 trillion Malawi kwacha (US$5.53 billion), or 59% of gross domestic product.He repeated promises to crack down on corruption, saying it was holding back economic growth."The success of Malawi's economy going forward, ... we will not tolerate corruption nor will we interfere in the affairs of institutions fighting corruption, we will observe the rule of law in order to provide predictability of the political and economic environment," he said. – Nampa/Reuters

Africa Briefs

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