Reselling connectivity in SA: ICASA licence or exemption
Whether a South African reseller of internet or voice services needs an ICASA class licence or a licence exemption, and what goes into Form M.
By Achekam · · 5 min read · For Telecoms businesses in South Africa
An IT support company in Pretoria starts bundling fibre with its managed services. A security firm in Durban sells its clients a voice line along with their alarm monitoring. A property manager in Cape Town buys bandwidth wholesale and sells it on to tenants. None of them thinks of itself as a telecoms company, yet each is now selling electronic communications services, and the question of what ICASA requires of them arrives sooner or later, often when a large customer's procurement team asks for "your licence number".
The answer depends on what the business actually does: resell services it buys from someone else, run a network of its own for its own use, or build and sell services on its own network. This article sets out how ICASA describes the options, what the exemption application asks for, and how to keep the papers in order.
What ICASA licenses
ICASA says it licenses broadcasting, electronic communications and postal services under the ICASA Act and the Electronic Communications Act. Within electronic communications, its licensing page separates networks (ECNS, electronic communications network services) from services (ECS, electronic communications services), and individual licences from class licences. ICASA's services licensing page sets out each category with the forms and fees, and it is the page to check before you apply, because fees and procedures change.
Class licences and individual licences
At the time of writing, ICASA says a class ECNS or class ECS licence registration can be lodged at any time, on Form A, with proof of payment of a non-refundable application fee of R13 283. Amending, renewing or transferring a class licence costs R6 642. Individual licences work differently: they can only be applied for after ICASA issues an invitation to apply.
ICASA also notes a limit that matters to voice resellers: a class ECS licence does not entitle the holder to apply for numbers from the national numbering plan. If your plan depends on issuing customers their own telephone numbers, check on ICASA's page what that requires before you choose a route.
When a reseller needs an exemption instead
A business that only resells, or only runs a network for itself, is described differently. ICASA says:
- A company that resells services bought from upstream providers needs an ECS licence exemption.
- A company that builds and operates a network mainly for its own internal operations needs a private electronic communications network (PECN) licence exemption.
Both are subject to the Licence Exemption Regulations published in Government Gazette 31289 of 29 July 2008. ICASA says exemption applications are made on Form M and carry no application fee.
So the IT support company reselling fibre from an upstream provider, and the security firm reselling a voice service, each fall under the reseller description. The property manager is a closer call: if it is reselling bandwidth bought from an upstream provider, the reseller exemption fits; if it is building its own network across several buildings and selling access on it, the analysis may be different. Where the line is unclear, ask ICASA or a telecoms lawyer before you apply.
A quick way to place your business
| What you do | ICASA's description | Form |
|---|---|---|
| Resell services bought from an upstream provider | ECS licence exemption | Form M, no application fee |
| Run a network mainly for your own internal operations | PECN licence exemption | Form M, no application fee |
| Provide services or networks under a class licence | Class ECS or ECNS registration | Form A, with the application fee |
| Provide services under an individual licence | Individual licence | Only after an invitation to apply |
Form M in practice
ICASA's licence exemption application, Form M under regulation 13, asks for:
- the registrant's particulars and legal form;
- a description of the service and its purpose;
- the geographic area it will cover;
- any radio frequency spectrum licence held or applied for.
Two formalities trip people up. Form M must be accompanied by a resolution authorising the person who signs it, and it must be sworn before a commissioner of oaths. ICASA may set aside any authorisation if a material statement in the application is false, so the description of the service should be accurate, not optimistic. If you resell fibre in one metro today, say that; do not describe the national network you hope to have in five years.
A practical sequence:
- Write a one-page description of the service, the upstream provider, the area covered and who the customers are.
- Have the board or members pass a resolution authorising a named person to sign the application.
- Complete Form M, attaching the resolution and any spectrum licence details.
- Have the signatory swear the form before a commissioner of oaths.
- Lodge it as ICASA's page directs, and diarise a follow-up.
Keeping the registration papers in order
ICASA's paperwork tends to be asked for again years later, by a customer's procurement team, a lender or ICASA itself. In Achekam, Document Centre is a folder-based store where a business uploads files or whole folders, tags and searches them, and keeps earlier versions when a new one is uploaded. Keep one folder for regulatory papers: the signed resolution, the sworn Form M, ICASA's acknowledgement and any later correspondence. If the description of your service changes and you file again, the earlier application stays beside the new one.
When a customer or consultant asks for a copy, share it rather than attaching it to an e-mail. A document can be shared by e-mailing a personal link with an expiry, an optional one-time code and download allowed or not, and the share can be revoked afterwards.
If your route is a class licence, the application fee is a business expense with a supporting document. Record it as a supplier bill: a business records supplier bills line by line with VAT, a bill without a purchase order waits for approval before it posts, and it can be paid in full or in parts from a chosen bank account. File the proof of payment with the application, because ICASA asks for it.
For what an ISP that belongs to ISPA must also publish and disclose, see what ISPA's code asks an ISP to disclose, and for billing a voice service once you are running, billing VoIP call usage.
Before you start selling
Decide which row of the table describes your business today, check ICASA's page for the current form and fee, and get the application in before the first customer's procurement team asks for it.
General guidance only, not advice on your own circumstances. Tax and payroll rules change: check the current position with the authority or your adviser.
