by Hans van de Groenendaal
The Wireless Access Providers’ Association (WAPA) is a strong promoter of self-regulation in the telecoms industry. The organisation was established in 2006 and is a non-profit industry representative body acting as a collective voice for independent wireless operators in South Africa.
Johann Botha is the chairman of Amobia Communications. He currently serves as co-chairman of WAPA with David Jarvis.
“Our primary objective is to ensure the sustainability of the wireless access services market using licence-exempt radio frequency spectrum," said Johann Botha, chairman of WAPA. He shares the chairman position with David Jarvis.
WAPA facilitates self-regulation of the outdoor fixed wireless and indoor nomadic wireless industries. It is positioned to be an interface between the government regulator, the Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (ICASA), network operators, service providers and consumers.
WAPA’s membership is differentiated from other wireless providers by its focus on using open standard wireless technologies (Wifi). WAPA offers its members regulatory advice, a code of conduct, an enforcement process and a forum for sharing knowledge and resolving technical problems.
“We are increasingly taking on a self-regulatory shape, using people in the industry to drive sustainability and getting them to contribute, help make the rules and stick to the rules,” said Botha.
“We have enjoyed some level of success with ICASA at local level. At ICASA head office level we are trying to drive the idea of self-regulation but people are quite cautious even though the model works well in the US with good cooperation between the Wireless Internet Service Providers Association and the Federal Communications Commission. In the UK the situation is different. Their regulator, OFCOM, has taken a different view and is looking after the independent fixed wireless access providers quite nicely.”
In South Africa the smaller wireless network providers are often overlooked. WAPA believes that the regulator does not spend time looking after the segment simply because they have bigger fish to fry. This opens up a big gap for self-regulation, taking the pressure off ICASA and allowing the industry to
take responsibility.
“Self-regulation is an interesting evolution. WAPA is a young organisation. When we started up it was the “wild west”! Every one did what they wanted to do; there was very little interaction and shared knowledge. We have made a lot of progress in our three years of existence by people sharing technical ideas, management, problem solving and best practices. It was a soft approach. We laid down some rules when we started WAPA, covering things that were blatantly wrong. It has been a process to make people understand why these rules exist, a parenting process if you like In the metro area it has been very successful. We still have a challenge in rural areas as people believe that there is nobody to interfere, so why stick to the rules? As more networks are set up and high sites shared the need to comply will become a big issue.”
WAPA encourages cooperation and transparency in spectrum management and joined the Open Spectrum Alliance (OSA) in calling for more transparency in the use of frequency spectrum in South Africa. Spectrum is a national resource and it is in the interest of all citizens that spectrum be used as efficiently as possible. There is a need for greater public awareness and education around spectrum resources in South Africa.
As a responsible industry body WAPA recently sent out an advisory to its membership, advising them to stop using the 5600 —
5650 MHz spectrum because of interference with C-band weather radar systems. This advisory followed an investigation by the OSA into spectrum which may be feasible to demonstrate an industry self-regulation model through lite-licensing spectrum for terrestrial point-to-point wireless links in the 5,9 – 6,1 GHz range.
In discussions with the SA Weather Service, OSA found that wireless access providers are currently causing interference with C-band weather radar systems. C-band weather radar is used for measuring rainfall, flood prediction, aviation safety, storm tracking/prediction, civil and industrial disaster mitigation as well agricultural and environmental management.
Spectrum has gone "from coal to gold" in the last few years. With 300 new ECNS licensees — many of whom will be providing fixed wireless access services — national spectrum resources will be under added pressure. Positive dialogue, cooperation and a new approach to spectrum management is needed.
During mid-August ICASA held a public hearing to receive input to its draft table of frequency allocations. It will be interesting to see what the outcome is and if ICASA will take a greater interest in WAPA and OSA proposals.
