South Africa’s telecommunications sector is undergoing a seismic shift as major mergers, evolving regulations, and public interest demands redefine the competitive landscape. This was the major takeaway from the collaborative sector event exploring the new frontier of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) regulation in Sandton, earlier in the week.

From the protracted Vodacom-Maziv deal to calls for faster infrastructure rollout, industry leaders and regulators are grappling with how to balance innovation, competition, and social equity in a rapidly digitizing economy.

The Vodacom-Maziv merger, which took 3.5 years to secure approval, has become a case study in South Africa’s complex merger control regime. Unlike in the European Union or United States, where competition concerns dominate, South African authorities weigh public interest just as heavily.

They demand job guarantees, rural broadband expansion, and Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SME) support as conditions for approval.

Liza Zouabi from Telkom explains why South Africa is in a unique position when it evaluates a merger.

“Where we are at an advantage in South Africa, in terms of public interest, is that we weigh public interest issues equally with competition effects when evaluating a merger. So, for example, in Maziv, this merger would need to show a substantial lessening of competition. But equal weight is given to public interest considerations, asking, if this merger happens, what do the parties promise to do for the South African economy? Which is interesting, because I realised it wasn’t necessarily that the merger would result in a positive public interest outcome on its own. Rather, it was that the commitments made in order to get the merger approved had significant public interest benefits. And if you read through those merger conditions, you will see they are quite extensive — in terms of employment, coverage, and the creation of downstream and upstream enterprises, in many respects in perpetuity,” says Zouabi.

Maziv has called for regulatory speed and parity in order to computer fail and meet consumer demands. Moses Mashisane, the group chief regulatory compliance officer at Maziv, argues that outdated licensing models and bureaucratic delays are stifling progress.

“The next level is recognising that what got us here will not get us where we want to go. If we look at it from a fixed perspective, what I really mean is that we want to provide better speeds. So how do we move towards delivering those better speeds, and do we actually have enough capacity?” says Mashisane.

He says they also need to ask what regulators can do to help them get there faster.

“One key point to recognise is that licences and auctions are becoming things of the past, they are not going to take us where we need to go next. Even if we continue with them, they won’t help us achieve our future goals, because the focus now needs to shift to consumers. Both operators and regulators need to look at the impact and ask: as licensees, how do we better serve our customers? That’s where the focus should be. In terms of initiatives, issues like rights of way become critical. In the current environment, they can actually give us a step ahead by enabling us to meet our commitments more quickly. Does it make sense for an operator to spend three or four months securing a right of way in a world where we want a faster digital economy? It doesn’t, because we are spending time on the wrong things,” he adds.

Experts agree that collaboration between regulators and operators will be critical to unlocking growth, expanding access, and ensuring that no one is left behind in the country’s digital transformation journey.