1999
2/1999
Study shows only 1 additional mobile license will be viable

2/1999
SATRA issues Application form for third license

6/1999
Ivy Matsepe-Casaburri replaces Jay Naidoo as Communications Minister.

6/1999
Tenders for mobile license close. Accepted are Africa Speaks, Nextcom, Cell C, Telia/Telenor, Five Mobile Networks, Khuluma 084 Cellular/NextCell


6/1999
Zintatu Communications Power disqualified from the bidding by SATRA because it failed to supply it's bid information on a CD-ROM, did not supply 25 copies of the bid, and did not pay the application fee of SAR75,000.

7/1999
Bidder Afrozone Telecoms withdraws from the license bid to team up with rival bidder Telia/Telenor. SATRA says that TT cannot change its original application to include new consortium members.

10/1999
Public Hearings by applicants. 

10/1999
Bidder Spatial Cellular informs SATRA that it was withdrawing from the bidding process.

10/1999
Bidder Cell C responds to allegations that Rafik Hariri - the founder of one of its backers, Saudi Oger - has allegedly been charged with fraud and corruption. 

11/1999
SATRA says it will announce winner on 24 December 1999.

12/1999
Faced with an investigation into allegations of fraud, mismanagement and nepotism, SATRA delays announcement of winner 

2000
1/2000
Minister announces that following the request made by Parliament that the Auditor General investigate SATRA, allegations against SATRA and chairman Nape Maepa  are dismissed 


2/2000
SATRA says that winning applicant will be announced at the end of March. 


2/2000
During deliberations into who the winner should be,  Maepa recuses himself from his position as SATRA chairman under pressure from the Presidents Office due to a ‘possible conflict of interest’. 

2/2000
Vodacom says it might go to court to force SATRA to gve it access to GSM 1800 MHz.

2/2000
SATRA recommends Cell C as winning bidder

3/2000
Democatic Party Sends Open Letter To Minister Over 3rd SA Cell License


3/2000
Vodacom and MTN - the present holders of the two GSM 900 licenses - say that they have reached agreement in principle will Cell C for access to the GSM 1800 MHz spectrum that Cell C will use for its network.

3/2000
Public hearings hear objections of losing bidders. 

4/2000
Allegations that Presidents office interfered into the license bid appear in newspapers. 

4/2000
Maepa says he did not support Cell C.


4/2000
After revelations that it ignored a BDO Spencer Steward analysis that did not recommend Cell C as the preferred bidder, SATRA says it has mandated consulting firm GTKF to revisit the Cell C decision 


5/2000
Chaos errupts as GTKF says that it had previously had contact with a member of one of the bidding companies. Communications Minister threatens to sue GTKF. Losing Bidder Telia-Telenor threatens to sue SATRA and government for the way in which the process has been handled.


7/2000
SATRA chairman Maepa snubs government objections and returns to the re-adjudication process. 

7/2000
SATRA re-recommends to the Communications Minister that Cell C be awarded the third licence. 

7/2000
Communications Minister says she will announce the winning bidder at the end of July 2000.

7/2000
SATRA replaced by ICASA. Maepe not nominated to ICASA council.

7/2000
Losing Bidder NextCom applies for urgent court interdict to prevent the Minister from confirming Cell C as winning bidder. Maepe issues affidavit that alleges government interfered in deliberations. Judge Nico Coetzee issues injunction that says the Minister must wait, pending the outcome of a judicial review of the bidding process. 

7/2000
Communications Minister attacks NextCom saysing it was going against the national interest by blocking her decision through the court interdict.

8/2000
M&G newspaper says that Cell C was made winner because of a complex guns-for-oil deal with Saudi Arabia. Government says the M&G story is fiction.

11/2000
The new ICASA regulatory body refuses incumbent GSM 900 Mhz operators Vodacom and MTN access to GSM 1800 Mhz as it says this must be reserved for a third operator. Bidder Nextcom agreees. Vodacom and MTN say they will take legal action to force access to 1800 Mhz. 

12/2000
The Communications Minister says that some resolution to the crisis will occur in February 2000. Vodacom and MTN in the meantime sign up over 400,000 new users per month.

2001
1/2001
The Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (ICASA) filed its affidavit in the third cell phone court case. The affidavit was a response to NextCom's court application for an order setting aside the recommendation on the awarding of the third cell licence to Cell C made by the South African Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (SATRA) to the Minister of Communications.

2/2001
Minister announces Cell C officially given license

2/2001
Cell C Says It will be live by 12/2001

2/2001
Rival Nextcom vows to fight decision to award CellC license

11/6/2001
Cell C will finally be allowed to start its GSM 1800 network in South Africa after rival bidder Nextcom officially withdrew from a judicial review into the awarding of the license. The latest developments in the saga mean that South Africans will now have Cell C competing with Vodacom and MTN by the end of the year.

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