The court hearing due to take place today as a result of the Independent Communications Authority of South Africa’s (ICASA) raid on Amatole Telecommunications Services (Easttel) earlier this month has been postponed until August 20.
HumanIPO reported three weeks ago ICASA officials had stormed the offices of Easttel and seized equipment, temporarily bringing down some of its services, but the operator had its property returned the same day after they had ICASA’s warrant declared invalid by the High Court.
At the time Mark Gray, operations director at Easttel, told HumanIPO they would be seeking damages from ICASA, while the regulator claims it is owed spectrum licence fees.
Both parties have since agreed to postpone the court case, with a date of August 20 being set for their next meet.
ICASA claims it is owed around ZAR501 million in total from various players not paying licence fees, while a host of operators and telecommunications companies have criticised the regulator for over complicating the licencing process.
