South Africa’s biggest mobile operators ask for exemption from competition laws
September 2nd 2026
The Association of Comms and Technology (ACT) has requested an exemption from certain provisions of the Competition Act as part of a plan to expand broadband access in rural South Africa.
ACT represents some of the largest network operators in the country, including Vodacom, MTN, Telkom, Cell C, Rain, and Liquid Intelligent Technologies.
A notice issued in a government gazette on Friday revealed that ACT had applied to the Competition Commission for an exemption from certain provisions of Chapter 2 of the Competition Act.
This exemption, which would be set for a period of five years, would allow members of ACT to engage in operations that would otherwise be prohibited under the Competition Act.
The association said this was part of a plan to coordinate and share limited planning information among members to deploy telecommunications infrastructure in remote and rural areas.
This infrastructure included telecommunication towers, masts, power supplies and other active equipment required to transmit communication signals.
ACT told the Competition Commission that its members were struggling to deploy communications infrastructure to expand broadband access in rural and remote areas of South Africa.
“Although broadband coverage has expanded in urban and commercially viable areas, material coverage gaps persist in deep rural, low-density and under-serviced communities,” it said.
“The Applicant submits that broadband rollout in these areas remains constrained by a combination of structural and economic factors.”
Foremost of these factors was that rural and remote areas have lower population densities and lower demand for telecommunication services.
“This may make it difficult for operators to justify the high fixed costs of deploying network infrastructure in those areas, particularly where projected local revenue is insufficient to recover the investment,” it said.
“As a result, independent rollout is often commercially unattractive, contributing to persistent coverage gaps.”
Another barrier was high supporting infrastructure costs, which ACT said represented a significant impediment to the rollout of equipment in rural areas compared to urban areas.
“Many rural areas lack reliable roads, a stable electricity supply, and existing telecommunications infrastructure,” it said.
“As a result, operators must build supporting infrastructure before network deployment can even begin.”
Mobile operators to share data and cut down on costs
ACT recognised that recent regulatory developments promoted infrastructure sharing and coordinated network rollout between mobile network operators.
These included ICASA’s Draft Regulations dated 10 April 2026, which encouraged collaboration among licensees to deploy network infrastructure.
“Despite these regulatory developments, the Applicant submits that the current framework remains largely procedural,” it said.
“It does not provide a practical mechanism for the type of coordination required to address existing deployment challenges.”
The argument is that recent regulations don’t establish a clear system for lawful information sharing, joint planning, site selection or decision-making among network operators.
Regulations also do not sufficiently address legal risks arising from coordination under the Competition Act.
“As a result, the Applicant submits that operators remain constrained in their ability to coordinate without risking contravention of the law,” it said.
For those reasons, ACT now seeks an exemption under the Competition Act in respect of anti-competitive practices and agreements.
The exemption would allow ACT members to share information that would align early planning of rollouts, jointly target high-impact geographic zones, and synchronise rollouts and site selections.
Network operators will submit their early planning data to an objective third party, which will aggregate and anonymise this information, identify coverage gaps, and highlight joint investment opportunities.
This will prevent duplicate tower rollouts, allow operators to maximise their investments, and enable them to reach more customers in rural areas in South Africa.
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