Vodacom South Africa’s urgent interdict application against MTN, Cell C, and Liquid Intelligent Technologies has been dismissed by the Pretoria High Court.

This means that the spectrum-sharing arrangements between these companies will continue, despite Vodacom’s claims that they were secretly and illegally approved by Icasa, giving MTN an unfair advantage in network performance tests.

The court acknowledged Vodacom’s right to challenge the approval process, particularly regarding the use of guard bands. However, it refused to grant the interdict, citing the significant improvements in mobile network quality for millions of South Africans, which has benefited trade, education, and access to information.

Judge Etienne Labuschagne ruled that Vodacom’s application was dismissed with costs, including the fees of two legal counsel. The court also noted that MTN and Cell C had made significant investments in their networks based on Icasa’s approval, and since they didn’t act in bad faith, it wouldn’t be fair to suddenly halt their pooling deals.

Icasa was criticized for not following proper public participation processes and conducting an inadequate competition assessment that didn’t consider Vodacom’s concerns.

Interestingly, the judge pointed out that Vodacom has always had the option to apply for its own pooling agreements, subject to the same approval process.