The Independent Communications Authority of South Africa, ICASA announced that Kwese Free TV has successfully applied for a free-to-air television broadcasting licence. The Free TV will be offering five channels to viewers, including a dedicated 24-hour sports channel in South Africa.
In 2014, ICASA previously issued an Invitation to Apply (ITA) for a free TV licence but disqualified all respondents in 2016. It issued a new ITA in February, 2017 and out of the four companies that applied, only Kwese was successfully licenced.
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ICASA also issued Kwese Free TV with a Multiplexer 3 (MUX 3) Radio Frequency Spectrum Licence. The licence is a range of frequencies for digital terrestrial television in South Africa. Although the frequencies won’t be available until South Africa completes its migration from analogue to digital TV broadcasting.
The deadline for the migration is set for July 2020. ICASA requires that Kwese Free TV must commence services within two years of receipt of licence and can only be extended if the digital migration is further delayed.
Kwese is a video entertainment service locally known for launching a streaming platform known as Kwese Play and the Roku media player which offers access to a range of online channels. It is jointly owned by Econet Group, Royal Bafokeng Holdings and Mosong Capital. Econet Group, owners of Liquid Telecom, holds 20% share, Royal Bafokeng Holdings holds 45% share, while Mosong Capital holds the remaining 35% share of Kwese Free TV.