INCM and ICASA specialists who participated on the joint exercise
The Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (ICASA) and the Autoridade Reguladora Das Communicações (INCM), the communications authority of Mozambique, conducted a joint Radio Frequency (RF) measurements exercise from 11 – 15 December 2017. Some of the key findings of this exercise include:
- No RF Spillage detected on both sides of the border alongside Kosi bay and Lebombo Border Posts. However, two South African Operators were found to have RF spillage in Mozambique town of Ponta Malongane.
- The Spectrum monitoring exercises was conducted with ICASA’s GEW Monitoring System and INCM’s TCI Monitoring System, and the results were compared and there was no significant difference.
The joint exercise is one of the ways in which both regulators use to implement the technical agreement entered between themselves in April 2017, which is aimed at co-operation and co-ordination in respect of spectrum management for telecommunications and broadcasting services; and also led to the establishment of a Technical Committee that would address matters of common interest between the regulators on radio frequency co-ordination.
The technical agreement is a culmination of the Memorandum of Agreement entered into by the two governments in June 2015, aimed at finding new approaches and strategies for consolidating, expanding and deepening areas of economic development, industrial, and trade co-operation between Mozambique and South Africa.
The technical agreement facilitated an exchange of technical expertise and monitoring tools, when conducting some joint measurements exercise around the border areas in prevention of:
• RF spillage
• RF interference
• RF occupancy by unlicensed users
The measurement exercise was a joint collaboration between the ICASA Head Office with the support of the Mpumalanga Region teams, and that of the regulator of Mozambique.