Section 31 of the IBA Act (as amended) stipulates the following: "(1) The Authority shall as soon as may be reasonably practicable after the commencement of this Act prepare a frequency plan whereby the maximum number of frequencies available for broadcasting services is determined.

"(2) In preparing a frequency plan in terms of this section, the Authority shall -

• have due regard to the reports of experts in the field of frequency planning and to internationally accepted methods for preparing such plans;
• take into account the existing frequencies used by broadcasting services; and
• reserve frequencies on all bands for the different categories of broadcasting licenses referred to in section 40(1), and publish its draft plan by notice in the Gazette and in such notice invite interested parties to submit their written comments and representations to the Authority within such period as may be specified in such notice.

"(3) After due consideration of the comments and representations (if any) received pursuant to the notice referred to in subsection (2), the Authority shall determine the frequency plan and cause such plan to be published in the Gazette.

"(4)

• Any frequency plan determined in terms of this section and all such comments and representa-tions as have been received in response to the notice contemplated in subsection (3), shall be kept at the offices of the Authority and be available for inspection by members of the public during the normal office hours of the Authority.
• The Authority shall at the request of any person and on payment of such fee as may be pre-scribed (if any), furnish him or her with a certified copy of or extract from any part of the documentation contemplated in paragraph (a).

"(5)

• The Authority shall annually review a frequency plan determined in terms of this section.
• The provisions of subsections (2), (3) and (4) shall mutatis mutandis apply in relation to any amendment contemplated in paragraph (a) of this subsection".

The original broadcasting frequency plan of South Africa was drafted by the SABC/Sentech in consultation with the Postmaster General. The plan was internationally coordinated and accepted by the ITU as being fully in compliance with its regulations.

After the establishment of the IBA in 1994, this frequency plan was amended to serve as an Interim Frequency Plan, on the basis of which almost 100 new temporary community-broadcasting licences were issued by the Authority. This Interim Frequency Plan was further amended to comply with the recommendations of the IBA's "Report on The Protection and Viability of Public Broadcasting Services; Cross Media Control of Broadcasting Services; Local Television Content and South African Music" (referred to as the "Triple Inquiry Report", August 1995). Using an assignment method of foremost priority, further assignments were made to cater for the needs of Community Sound Broadcasters, and frequencies in the Plan were categorised as Community, Public, and Private The Broadcast Frequency Plan contains:

• 298 frequencies for community sound broadcasting services
• 737 frequencies for PBS sound broadcasting services
• 200 frequencies for private sound broadcasting services
• 66 frequencies for community television broadcasting services
• 621 frequencies for PBS television broadcasting services
• 524 frequencies for private television broadcasting services.

A community frequency plan, using an assignment method of foremost priority has been compiled on a province by province basis. This plan contains all FM and MF frequencies that are available for community broadcasting in all nine provinces. Frequencies occupied by the current community broadcasters are not specified separately as new applicants can also apply for these. The plan was aimed at providing the maximum number of frequencies at the lowest possible interference levels. Technical limitations and population figures were used as a guide. The community frequency plan contains 281 FM (96 operational) and 17 MW (8 operational) frequencies and the breakdown is as follows:

	FM	MF
Northern Province	26	1
North West Province	20	0
Northern Cape	38	0
Mpumalanga	30	1
Eastern Cape	34	0
Free State	35	2
Kwazulu Natal	23	2
Western Cape	44	1
Gauteng Province	31	10

The Provincial frequency plans do not distinguish between frequencies for community of interest and geographical communities. The Provincial frequency plans include MF frequencies that can be used in some specified areas. The frequencies are all above 1269 kHz and have a maximum EMRP of 1 kilowatt. The IBA will not consider an increase in the EMRP above 1 kilowatt for any of these frequencies. Due to frequency re-use, the day-time coverage may be somewhat reduced at night due to interference from the sky wave of stations operating on the same frequency. The Authority will only protect the 24-hour service contour from interference.

3.2 Purposes of a Frequency Plan

A frequency plan has several purposes:

• it allows the IBA to take a broad strategic view as to how it will distribute frequencies across the country;
• it sets out the basis upon which licences can be granted, and puts in the public domain information about the total number and mix of licences that can be made available at a particular point in time;
• it gives status to planned assignments so that they can be entered into the master frequency register to be taken into account in all future planning, and interference potential assessments. This is to prevent other changes being made, which might make the reserved frequency unsuitable for use.
• a frequency plan must be demand driven, and not technology driven, and be formulated by policy objectives, rather than the broadcasting policy being required to work around what might be an ideal engineering solution.

The frequency plans for FM sound and television broadcasting have been developed on the basis of providing essentially the full range of services to the majority of the population.

3.3 Compliance with international accepted methods

The frequency plans have been based on internationally accepted practices and the levels of spectrum usage are consistent with international practice using the same basic planning assumptions of providing substantially interference free service within the intended service area.

The broadcasting frequency bands are pre-planned and internationally coordinated through the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) to avoid mutually harmful interference between neighboring countries. These bands are the Medium Wave (MF) AM, and VHF FM bands for sound broadcasting and the VHF and UHF bands for television broadcasting. To allow for technological advances and to accommodate changing priorities of countries, the international plans are reviewed every 20 to 30 years. Provision is also made for modifications to the plans. Procedures are laid down by which frequency assignments can be added to the existing plans. The ITU has to be notified of all such modifications. The current frequency assignment plans for the Africa region are the following:

Medium Wave Sound Broadcasting: Geneva Plan of 1975 for Africa, Europe and Asia between 535,5 kHz and 1606,5 kHz.

VHF FM Sound Broadcasting: Geneva Plan of 1984 for Africa and Europe between 87,5 MHz and l08 MHz.

VHF and UHF Television: Geneva Plan of 1989 for Africa and neighboring countries between 174 MHz to 254 MHz and 470 MHz to 854 MHz.

Any frequency plan must comply not only with internationally accepted methods for preparing such plans, but specifically comply with the above mentioned Regional Agreements and the regulations and provisions of the International Telecommunication Union international regulations and conventions to which South Africa is a party. These are international treaties and are legally binding on the Republic of South Africa.

3.4 Broadcasting frequency bands included in the present frequency plan; spectrum usage in South Africa

The following broadcasting frequency bands are included in the present draft frequency plan.

• AM-MF Sound Broadcasting 535,5 - 1606,5 kHz
• FM VHF Sound Broadcasting 87,5 - 108 MHz
• VHF Television Broadcasting 174 - 238 MHz; 246 - 254 MHz
• UHF Television Broadcasting 470 - 854 MHz

The Short Wave (HF bands) are not pre-planned but only coordinated operationally according to ITU rules of procedure. In South Africa, as in other countries lying between the tropics of Cancer and Capricorn, a portion of the spectrum has been set aside for domestic HF broadcasting. Here too, there is no plan, but the ITU has laid down rules and procedures for frequency assignments in this band. As transmissions in the Tropical Bands are intended for national coverage, the transmitter output power is restricted to 50 kW.

3.4.1 MF-AM Broadcasting Band

The MF AM broadcasting band lies between 530 and 1606,5 kHz, and is divided into 120 channels of 9 kHz bandwidth each. In South Africa the first channel on 531 kHz is not used for MF broadcasting as the frequency band 526.5 - 535.5 kHz is allocated to mobile service. Three of the MF channels have been designated low power channels where the power may not exceed 1 kW. South Africa has 37 channels registered with the ITU; of these 11 are in use with powers between 10 kW and 100 kW. Currently MF-AM transmitting sites are located at: Meyerton, Springs, Roodepoort, Komga, Ga-Rankuwa, Sibasa, Umtata and Umzimkulu. Normally a high power MF-AM station infrastructure requires approximately 25 hectares for the large antenna systems that are required, and a low power transmitter can require up to 4000 square meters dependent on the broadcasting antenna system utilised. Normally local authority and environmental planning considerations place limitations on the establishment of MF-AM transmitting sites.

3.4.2. VHF-FM Sound Broadcasting Band

In the VHF FM sound broadcasting band between 87,5 MHz and 108 MHz there are 204 channels each of 100 kHz bandwidth. These are grouped into 31 groups of 6 channels, plus an additional 18 channels. This means than at any one transmitting site the ITU plan provides for 6 channels or frequencies to be available for assignment. In areas of greatest demand 12 channels were assigned to one area by combining 2 lattice node points. In order to provide national FM coverage it was necessary to locate high power transmitting stations approximately 100 km apart. Although such a transmitting station may only have a coverage radius of 30 - 50 km, interference from such a station can occur over hundreds of kilometers. In order to avoid mutual interference between stations operating on the same frequency, it is necessary for the signal from the wanted station to be between 37 dB and 45 dB higher (i.e. 5 000 and 30 000 times stronger) than an interfering signal. Hence a high power FM frequency can only be reused at a distance of close to 500 km. On the other hand, low power (for e.g. 1 watt) FM transmitters can be situated some 10 km apart (depending on the terrain and broadcasting antenna characteristics and height), using the same frequency, due to its limited area of coverage.

Due to constraints in receiver design, an average domestic FM radio receiver cannot discriminate between frequencies less than 3 channels apart. This places a further limitation on the number of VHF FM frequencies available for assignment.

3.4.3. VHF TV Broadcasting Band

The VHF Television band contains only 9 frequencies of 8 MHz bandwidth each, so a uniform lattice cannot be used to assign frequencies. These frequencies have been assigned in groups of 3 to metropolitan areas and, where possible, to rural areas, using a method of foremost priority.

3.4.4. UHF TV Broadcasting Band

The UHF television broadcasting service between 470 MHz and 854 MHz contains 48 channels each of 8 MHz bandwidth arranged into 12 groups of 4 channels. This means that 4 channels are available for assignment at any one transmitting site. In areas of greatest demand 7 to 11 channels have been assigned, once again by combining lattice node points or by assigning both VHF and UHF channels to a particular area.

3.4.5. Broadcasting Frequency planning principles

South Africa, as a signatory to the ITU Convention, and more particularly having acceded to the Regional Agreements concerning VHF-FM Sound broadcasting and VHF/UHF television broadcasting, is obliged to adhere to the planning principles agreed to in the planning conferences organised by the ITU to plan the broadcasting frequency bands.

The existing frequency plans for FM and TV have been developed on the basis of providing essentially a full range of public broadcasting services to the majority of the population. The South African broadcast frequency plan is based on internationally accepted practices similar to those adopted in Europe, Australia and Asia. The current levels of spectrum usage in South Africa are also consistent with international practice. In the USA different planning principles are applied: in general there is one transmitter per service which provides restricted cove-rage, resulting in high levels of mutual interference being are experienced.

Frequencies are normally assigned to transmitting stations according to a uniform lattice in case of the VHF FM and UHF television frequency bands. Frequencies are reused at a distance where there will be no harmful interference between transmitting stations operating on the same frequency.

Although digital technology is being introduced, which will increase the capacity of the broad-casting bands, this technology cannot be introduced immediately as planning must take account of the masses of analogue radio receivers in the market (estimated by the South African Radio and Television Manufacturers Association to be of the order of 12 million). A domestic radio is estimated to have a life span of 10 years. This means that for a new technology to be introduced, the existing technology must be kept running in parallel for at least a period equivalent to the life span of the radio receiver.

3.5 Interference as a limiting factor to frequency assignment

Issues that are important in frequency planning include definition of the area to be served by each broadcasting station, whether these areas may be or needs to be served through the use of multiple frequencies or whether it is to be served by a single transmitter, and decisions about how much interference between services is tolerable, and the grade of service to be provided to the listeners or viewers within the area to be served. In the final instance, a frequency plan can consist of a number of combinations and permutations of frequencies and power levels for the same area, all of which may be technically acceptable. Also, it would be possible to have a smaller number of high power transmitters, or a large number of low power transmitters, or any combination between these extremes, in any particular geographic area, dependent on the particular needs, and considering the topography in the area.

While it would be possible to avoid interference between broadcasters by never using frequencies more than once nor using frequencies close to each other, this is impractical because very few services could be established. Frequency re-use is therefore a standard feature of all frequency plans. The plan attempts to manage the problem of interference and accommodate the maximum number of frequencies within a given area for a given amount of spectrum. The plan also takes account of the practical limits of coverage of stations imposed by factors such as the physics of radio wave propagation, limits of radiated power from the stations, and performance characteristics (selectivity and sensitivity) of typical receivers. The engineering considerations of interference prediction and coverage assessment usually follow recommendations of the ITU. These recommendations draw on the pooled knowledge of experts worldwide which is expressed in terms of guidelines and parameters that have been established as providing practical and realistic results. The IBA therefore has to establish a policy of defining the areas stations are intended to serve, and plan accordingly; complaints about reception from listeners outside of the licence area of the station is normally not considered.

This is generally known as an interference limited approach to determining the coverage area of a particular broadcasting station, as opposed to a noise limited approach (where the signal level is allowed to drop to below the ambient noise level).

Due to current spectrum utilisation, particularly in the VHF FM band it has, in certain cases been possible to receive broadcast transmissions in areas beyond the intended target area of transmitting stations as broadcasts have been mostly noise limited. As more frequency assignments are made and new broadcasters come on the air, services will no longer be noise limited but will become interference limited. This means that although the prime target area of the transmitting station will continue to receive satisfactory coverage, people in areas outside the target are who in the past were able to receive transmissions, will no longer be able to do so due to increased spectrum usage and the consequent increase in interference levels.

Broadcasters, and in particular the SABC, have up to now made use of re-broadcasting techniques (RBR) to provide a programme feed to transmitting stations. In this process a signal is received from an adjacent transmitting station and re-broadcast to the intended target area. The Authority (IBA) did not use any criteria to protect such links from any interference in the compilation of this plan. In future broadcasters will have to make more and more use of either telecommunications links or satellite facilities to provide programme feeds to transmitting stations where interference is a problem. In drawing up the present frequency plan, priority is given to maximising the number of broadcasting frequencies available for assignment to broadcast services. Consequently no protection against harmful interference can be given to home equipment such as video cassette recorders (VCR's), satellite receivers, integrated receiver decoders (IRD's) etc. operating in the broadcasting services frequency bands.

In countries with a tradition of public broadcasting, systematic planning methods have been applied on the basis that public services should be widely accessible to all of the population. This planned approach is the one adopted by the ITU generally and in particular for planning of broadcasting services in Africa. This is the approach that has been used for broadcasting frequency planning in South Africa, and which the IBA intends to continue applying (in compliance with ITU methods).

The present Draft Frequency Plan is to be treated as a living document and a vehicle to assist the IBA to facilitate the development of a broadcasting system which is responsive to the changing technical and social environment, and which will enable the IBA to achieve the pri-mary objects of section 2 the IBA Act.

3.6 Factors restricting the frequency plan

A number of factors place restrictions on the present Draft Frequency Plan, being:

• frequencies occupied by existing broadcasters;
• the need to co-ordinate broadcasting frequencies with South Africa's neighbors;
• the requirements of extending the public broadcasting services to areas where they are at present not available;
• the grandfather clause of the IBA Act; and
• demographic conditions (including aspects such as mountainous terrain, ground conductivity, etc.).

"51(1)

• to such extent as may be necessary in the interest of orderly frequency management, provided the amendment will not cause substantial prejudice to the licensee; or
• to such extent as may be necessitated by virtue of any bilateral, multilateral or international agreement or convention relating to broadcasting to which the Republic is bound, whether as a party or otherwise".

Furthermore, international agreements and ITU regulations require that all medium and high power frequencies are co-ordinated with neighboring territories so as not to cause trans-border interference. This requires that any addition of a new frequency or relocation of a frequency of a medium or high power broadcasting station situated within approximately 400 km from the border of any of South Africa's neighbors (Namibia, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Swaziland, Mozambique or Lesotho) would require extensive and drawn out bilateral negotiations.

3.7 Triple inquiry report: Influence on the frequency plan

The final frequency plan of the IBA will have to take into consideration the effect of various recommendations of the IBA as made in the Triple Inquiry Report.

The IBA's Triple Inquiry recommended that the eleven full spectrum language sound broadcasting ser-vices of the SABC should "reach at least 80% of the people who speak the principal language of the station within 18 months and 90% within five years". This will re-quire further frequencies in those areas where the particular services are still lacking.

The Triple Inquiry report further states: "The Authority is committed to finding ways of ensuring that all official languages are heard throughout the country through the promotion of stations that reflect the realities of South Africa's integrated society, while guaranteeing the development and use of all of its languages". Implementation of this policy would, in itself, utilise most of the available FM frequencies in urban areas, leaving no frequencies for other broadcasters.

Recommendations regarding a Youth Station, a dedicated education channel, provincial public broadcasting services, and the continued use of Radio 2000 for simulcast purposes further influence the availability of frequencies for new broadcasting stations.

With the incorporation of the broadcasting services of the former so-called TBVC states, frequencies may become available in some of these areas. However, in general there is not a scarcity of broadcasting frequencies in the rural areas of South Africa. The incorporation and rationalisation of the sound broadcasting services of the former Bophuthatswana into the SABC will, however, be important as far as making frequencies available in Pretoria where there is a scarcity of frequencies. Capital Radio, when sold, may wish to move its broadcasting services to the Durban area, where once again there is a scarcity of frequencies.

As far as sound broadcasting services are concerned, the question arises whether the MF and/or FM bands need to be sectionalised to accommodate each of the three types of broad-casting licensees (public, private, and community) in a separate section of the particular band. Such a requirement will be impossible to achieve if the SABC is to continue with its present number of full-spectrum language stations, and if all of these are to be made available in each area. (With a minimum frequency separation of 1,8 MHz between high power stations in the FM band, which is required to accommodate receiver selectivity, eleven such stations would occupy all of the 20 MHz width of the FM band.)

Should Bop TV extend its cover-age area in Gauteng, as proposed in the White Paper on Broadcasting Policy, this will require further frequencies in an area where already there is a short-age of frequencies.

3.8 Coverage area planning and service contours

In coverage area planning we distinguish among three different coverage planning scenarios.

3.8.1 Minimum usable field strength

The field strength coverage can be calculated for each frequency, using the associated technical parameters and the following service contours values.

FM	Rural areas	48 dBuV/m
	Urban areas	60 dBuV/m
MF	All areas	74 dBuV/m
TV	Rural areas	BIII 49 dBuV/m	BIV/V 60 dBuV/m
Urban areas	BIII 60 dBuV/m	BIV/V 70 dBuV/m

The field strength coverage calculation is only applicable to areas where virtually no interference from other transmitters is present.

3.8.2 Coverage Area (Usable field strength)

The coverage can be calculated for each frequency, using the associated technical parameters, interfering transmitters and the service contours values as defined in section 3.8.1. This calculation is based on % time (%T) and % location (%L) f figures.

The WANTED %L and %T for the different broadcasting services are:

 

Service	% Locations	% Time
FM	50	50
MF	50	50
TV	70	50

The PROTECTED %L and %T for the different broadcasting services are:

 

Service	% Locations	% Time
FM	50	90
MF	50	50
TV	70	90

The Coverage area (usable field strength) calculation, as described in this section, can be used in certain instances, to determine the license area of a broadcaster in cases where no license area has been specified as part of the broadcast license. The technical parameters included in the specific broadcast license will be used for the licence area calculation.

3.8.3 'Planning Coverage Area'

Planning of actual coverage areas is not based on % Location coverage but will include only the locations where actual coverage exists. The coverage calculation is based on a data terrain model and a specific prediction model. The prediction model must be applicable to the frequency band of operation. All interference from other transmitting stations must be taken into consideration whenever this calculation is performed. This calculation produces an interference limited coverage area.

The following contour values should be used as a basis for these coverage calculations.

 

FM	All areas	60dBuV/m
MF	Cities	80 dBuV/m
	All other areas	74 dBuV/m
TV	All areas	BIII 55dBuV/m BIV 65dBuV/m BV 70dBuV/m

The planning coverage area calculation, as described in this section, must be used as the basis for all demographic calculations such as percentage population coverage figures.

3.8.4 Definitions applicable to Coverage area planning and service contours.

'Planning Coverage Area' (terrestrial transmitting station)
Area associated with a transmitting station for a given service and a specific frequency within which, under specific technical conditions, radio communications may be established with one or several receiving stations.
Note 1 - The technical conditions include the following: characteristics of the equipment used both at the transmitting and receiving stations, how it is installed, quality of transmission desired, e.g., protection ratios and operating conditions.
Note 2 - The following may be distinguishable:

• interference-free coverage area, that limited solely by natural or artificial noise;
• the nominal coverage area: it is defined, when establishing a frequency plan, by taking into account the foreseen transmitters;
• the actual coverage area, i.e. with allocation made for the noise and interference that exist in practice.

Coverage Area
The area within which the field strength of a transmitter is equal to or greater than t he usable field strength.

Service Area
The part of the coverage area in which the administration (IBA) has the right to demand that the agreed protection conditions be provided.

License Area
The licence area is defined in the IBA Act and it reads as follows: 'the geographical target area of a broadcasting service as specified in the relevant broadcasting licence'.

3.9 Submissions

The Authority encourages interested parties to submit corrections or comments for consideration in the draft frequency plan intended to be published in October 2000.

Please submit these in writing for the the attention of the Unit Head: Technical

The IBA
Private Bag X31
Parklands
2121
South Africa