White space and digital dividends: The case for dynamic spectrum access in South Africa

In this paper we present the current state of affairs surrounding the analog switch-off and corresponding digital dividend as pertaining to South Africa. Analog switch-off and digital dividends has enjoyed much attention lately due to the constantly increasing data requirements of wireless devices and the alarming decrease of available spectrum for deployment of new wireless technologies. An estimated 300 MHz of spectrum will be made available after analog switch-off. To this end the main contributions of this paper is to detail the state of affairs surrounding analog switch-off, the possibilities for the digital dividend and Spectrum Opportunities that exist in South Africa.