Electronic Communications Act, 2005 (Act No. 36 of 2005) Regulations Radio Frequency Spectrum Amendment Regulations, 2021 Part I - Preliminary 1. Definitions

 

In these Regulations, unless the context otherwise indicates, a word or expression to which a meaning has been assigned in the Act has the meaning so assigned:

 

"Act"

means the Electronic Communications Act, 2005 (Act No. 36 of 2005);

 

"Amateur"

means a person who is interested in the radio technique solely for a private reason and not for financial gain and to whom the Authority has granted an amateur radio station licence and shall mean a natural person and shall not include a juristic person or an association: provided that an amateur radio station licence may be issued to a licensed radio amateur acting on behalf of a duly founded amateur radio association;

 

"Amateur radio licence"

means a legal document or permit giving official permission to the licence holder to operate an amateur radio station;

 

"Amateur station"

means a radio station for a service of self-tuition, intercommunication and technical investigation that is operated by an amateur;

 

"Applicant"

means a person who submits a request in terms of these regulations;

 

"Assignment"

means the authorisation given by the authority to use a radio frequency or radio frequency channel under specified conditions;

 

"Base station"

means a land radio station in the land mobile service for a service with land mobile stations;

 

"BBBEE Act"

means the Broad-Based Black Empowerment Act, 2003 (Act No. 53 of 2003);

 

"BS"

means Broadcasting Service;

 

"Burglar alarm service"

means a land mobile service installed, maintained and operated to monitor burglar alarm signals of clients by means of a signal forwarded from a radio transmitter to a central position;

 

"Burglar alarm transmitter"

means a transmission radio station in the land mobile service that is intended to transmit automatic alarm signals to a central position;

 

"Carrier wave power"

means the average power that is supplied by the transmitter to the antenna transmission line and is measured during one radio-frequency cycle in conditions of no modulation;

 

"CEPT"

means Conference of European Posts and Telecommunications Authorities;

 

"CEPT/ERC/REC 70-03"

means ERC Recommendation 70-03 relating to the use of short range devices (SRD);

 

"Citizen-band radio service"

means a private, two-way, limited coverage speech communication service in the land mobile service to personal and business operations, which may also be used as a paging system;

 

"Communal radio repeater station service"

means a land mobile service installed, maintained and operated via repeater stations that are available for communal use;

 

"Continuous tone coded squelch system (CTCSS)"

means a circuit that is used to reduce cross talk interference on a shared two-way radio communication channel;

 

"Cooling-off period"

means a period of six (6) months whereby a person who has contravened regulation 11(5) of these Regulations shall not be eligible to apply for a radio frequency spectrum licence".

 

"Cordless Phone"

means a portable telephone with a wireless handset that communicates via radio waves with a base station connected to a fixed telephone line, within a limited range of its base station;

 

"CTO"

means low power cordless telephone;

 

"CT2"

- means second generation cordless telephone;

 

"DECT"

- means digitally-enhanced cordless telephone;

 

"Direct Sequence Spread Spectrum" ("DSSS")

means a modulation scheme whereby radio signals are passed through and distributed over the entire band at once;

 

"Disaster relief (DR) radio communication"

means radio communications used by authorised agencies and organisations dealing with serious disruptions of the functioning of society, posing a significant, widespread threat to human life, health, property or the environment, whether caused by accident, nature or human activity, and whether developing suddenly or as a result of complex, long-term processes."

 

"Due date"

means 31 March of the then current licence year;

 

"Duty Cycle"

means the ratio, expressed as a percentage, of the maximum transmitter "on" time on one carrier frequency, relative to a one-hour period unless otherwise mentioned in the relevant specifications under Annexure B.

 

"Dynamic Frequency Selection" ("DFS")

means the mechanism that allows for the coexistence of wireless networks with weather radar systems in the 5GHz band;

 

"E-Band"

means a set of frequencies in the range 71 - 76GHz paired with 81 - 86GHz;

[Definition inserted by regulation 2.1 of Notice 781 of 2016, GG 40436, dated 22 November 2016]

 

"ECNS"

means Electronic Communications Network Services;

 

"ECS"

means Electronic Communications Services;

 

"e.i.r.p."

means effective isotropically-radiated power;

 

"EMC"

means Electromagnetic compatibility;

 

"ERP"

means effective radiated power, the product of the power supplied to an antenna and its gain relative to a half wave dipole in a given direction."

 

"Experimental station"

means a station that uses radio waves in experiments for the purpose of developing the science or technique of communication but which is not an amateur radio station;

 

"Extended applications"

means a procedure used where frequency is scarce and applicants are required to submit commercial and technical information;

 

"Field Disturbance and Doppler Apparatus" ( "FDDA ")

means radio apparatus which operates by producing a radiated field and responding to any disturbance of that field caused by an intrusion or movement within the field by other devices, objects or persons;

 

"Frequency Hopping Spread Spectrum" ("FHSS")

means a modulation scheme that rapidly switches a carrier among many given frequency channels, using a pseudorandom sequence known to both the transmitter and receiver;

 

"GHz"

means a radio frequency value designated in gigahertz;

 

"HAREC"

means Harmonized Amateur Radio Examination Certificate issued in terms of CEPT recommendation TR61-02E;

 

"HDP"

means historically-disadvantaged persons;

 

"HF"

means High Frequency;

 

"Inductive Loop Systems"

means radio apparatus which operates by producing a controlled magnetic field within which a predetermined recognisable signal is formed;

 

"ICASA Act"

means the Independent Communications Authority Act of South Africa, 2000 (Act No. 13 of 2000) as amended."

 

"ISM"

means Industrial, Scientific and Medical;

 

"ITA"

means Invitation to Apply;

 

"kHz"

means a radio frequency value designated in kilohertz;

 

"Land mobile service"

means a mobile radio-communication service between fixed stations and mobile land stations, or between land mobile stations;

 

"LBT"

means Listen before Talk which is a mechanism, used for continuously searching for a free, open channel to initiate communication, used extensively for coexistence without causing harmful interference between SRD and RFID systems;

 

"Licence"

means a radio frequency spectrum licence;

 

"Licence year"

in relation to a licence or certificate, means the period of 12 months of each year from 1 April to 31 March, both dates inclusive;

 

"Licensee"

means a person to whom a radio frequency spectrum licence has been issued in terms of the Act;

 

"Lock-on faulty signals"

means a continuous signal transmitted by a transmitter station due to faulty equipment;

 

"Low Power Radio"

means radio apparatus, normally hand-held radios used for short range, two-way, voice communications;

 

"MHz"

means a radio frequency value designated in megahertz;

 

"m ASL"

means height expressed in meters above sea level:

[Definition inserted by regulation 2.2 of Notice 781 of 2016, GG 40436, dated 22 November 2016]

 

"m AGL"

means height expressed in meters above ground level:

[Definition inserted by regulation 2.2 of Notice 781 of 2016, GG 40436, dated 22 November 2016]

 

"Mobile station"

means a radio station that is intended to be operated while it is in motion or while it is stationary at an unspecified place;

 

"Model control apparatus"

means radio apparatus used to control the movement of the model in the air, on land or over or under the water surface;

 

"National radio frequency plan"

means a plan that sets out specific frequency bands designated for use by particular types of services and takes into account bands that are allocated to the security sector;

 

"Non-specific short range devices"

means radio apparatus used for general telemetry, telecommand, alarms and data applications with a pre-set duty cycle (0.1% 5 duty cycle (100%);

 

"Paging station"

means a receiving radio station in the land mobile service that is intended to receive selective signals from a central position;

 

"Parrot repeater station"

means a fixed station in the land mobile service used by a burglar alarm service licensee to store and forward burglar alarm signals over mountainous terrain;

 

"PAJA"

means the Promotion of Administrative Justice Act, 2000 (Act No. 3 of 2000) as amended."

 

"Public Mobile Radio"

(PMR) means radio apparatus used for two-way, voice communications;

 

"PFMA"

means Public Finance Management Act, 1999 (Act No. 1 of 1999) as amended;

 

"Q-Code"

means a standardised collection of three-letter message encodings, all commencing with the letter "Q";

 

"Radio-beacon station"

means a radio station of which the radiation is intended to enable a mobile station to fix its position or obtain its bearing with regard to the radio beacon;

 

"Radio-communication"

means all electronic communication by means of radio waves;

 

"Radio Local Access Network" ("RLAN")

means the high data rate, two-way (duplex) wireless data communications network;

 

"Radio telecommand"

means the use of radio apparatus for the transmission of signals to initiate, modify or terminate functions of equipment at a distance;

 

 

"Radio Reception Blocking Device"

means a radio transmitter designed to transmit radio signals for the purpose of disrupting normal reception of radio signals in a radio frequency band or selected frequency ranges;

[Definition inserted by regulation 2.3 of Notice 781 of 2016, GG 40436, dated 22 November 2016]

 

"Radio trunking"

means a technique by means of which free channels out of a group of radio frequency channels allocated to a base station are automatically made available for the establishment of a connection between the stations of a user;

 

"Regulations"

means the regulations as prescribed in this document;

 

"Relay or repeater station"

means a land station in the land mobile service;

 

"RFID System" ("Radio Frequency Identification System")

means a wireless system that uses radio-frequency communication to automatically identify, track and manage objects, people or animals. It consist of two main components viz. a tag and a reader which are tuned to the same frequency;

 

"Road Transport and Traffic Telematics" ("RTTT")

means radio apparatus used for road traffic management. Applications include automatic road toll collection, route guidance systems, vehicle or container identification, instant traffic information, parking management, advance incident warning and on-vehicle, anti-collision radar;

 

"Same area"

means a radius of 20 km around the coordinates of the central control station in relation to a burglar alarms service or a radius of 20 km around the coordinates of the repeater station in relation to a communal repeater station service"

 

"Service licence"

means a BS, ECS or ECNS licence;

 

"Ship station"

means a mobile station in the maritime mobile service that has been erected;

 

"Short Range Device" ("SRD")

means a piece of apparatus which includes a transmitter, and/or a receiver and or parts thereof, used in alarm, telecommand telemetry applications, etc, operating with analogue speech/music or data (analogue and/or digital) or with combined analogue speech/music and data, using any modulation type intended to operate over short distances;

 

"Simplex radio rental system"

means a land mobile service provided by a person and is available for communal use;

 

"Special radio service"

means a radio-communication service that is not otherwise defined in these regulations and is operated solely for specified purposes of general benefit;

 

"Spectrum leasing"

means to give access to spectrum to a third party;

 

"Spread spectrum"

means a form of wireless communications in which the frequency of the transmitted signal is deliberately varied, resulting in a much greater bandwidth than the signal would have if its frequency were not varied;

 

"Standard application"

means a procedure where applicants are allowed to submit simple application forms;

 

"Telemetry"

means the transmission of remotely measured data;

 

"The Authority TE Specifications"

means specifications that the Authority published, with a certain number prefixed by "TE" and which is obligatory for the device or application in question;

 

"Transmitter Power Control" ("TPC")

means a technical mechanism used within some networking devices in order to prevent unwanted interference between wireless networks;

 

"Transfer"

means to assign, cede or transfer a licence from one person to another;

 

"UHF"

means Ultra High Frequency;

 

"V Band"

is continuous block of 9 GHz of spectrum between 57 ad 66 GHz;

[Definition inserted by regulation 2.4 of Notice 781 of 2016, GG 40436, dated 22 November 2016]

 

"VHF"

means Very High Frequency;

 

"Video Surveillance Equipment"

means radio apparatus used for security camera purposes to replace the cable between a camera and a monitor;

 

"Wideband Wireless Systems"

means radio apparatus that uses spread spectrum techniques and has a high bit rate;

 

"Wireless Access Systems" ("WAS")

means end-user radio connections to public or private core networks;

 

"Wireless Audio Systems"

means radio apparatus used to replace the wired headphones or speakers in hi-fi systems.