ICASA to Host the South African 5G Forum Meeting

The Independent Communications Authority of South Africa will host the South African Fifth Generation Mobile Technology (5G) Forum Meeting on 16 and 17 November 2022, from 11:30 a.m. to 17:00 p.m. at the Premier Hotel Midrand in Gauteng. The theme of this meeting is “Early Phases of 5G Deployment: Experiences and Beyond”.

The South African 5G Forum is an advisory body constituting of stakeholders in the ICT sector. The stakeholders are organised into working groups that focus on various aspects such as R&D, Standards, Policy and Regulations, Spectrum, and Use Cases. Its purpose is to undertake research and render advice to ICASA on matters of 5G and beyond, taking into account the integral role of 5G, amongst others, in the advancement of the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) and the positive socio-economic impact that this technology stands to enable.

Some of the key topics for the upcoming meeting include the following:

•The Development Status of 5G: Africa and Global View;

•5G Radio Frequency Spectrum as an Enabler for Economic growth in Vertical Industries; and

•Beyond 5G – On the Road to 6G.

The forum meeting will provide a key platform for interactive discussions on topical issues and current thinking on a strategy for 5G and beyond in Africa as well as globally.

The meeting is a hybrid public event, taking place both in-person and virtually. Attendees will be able to participate and engage in interactive panel discussions, one-on-one engagements and group networking sessions. The event will also feature demonstrations from vendors on the latest 5G technology developments.

This is the second 5G Forum meeting since ICASA hosted the inaugural meeting in 2017. The inaugural meeting intended to intensify collaborative arrangements with the government, institutions of higher learning, research institutions, industry players as well as any other formations with an interest in the uptake of technological innovation.