By Rolla Hassan, Ph.D
5G in Africa 2023
According to the GSMA report, only 16 of 54 African countries have live commercial 5G networks, while 10 African countries have planned commercial 5G networks.
5G FWA in Africa 2023
As of September 2023, 9 countries had launched commercial 5G-based FWA services across 54 countries. This indicates that around 17% of 5G commercial networks.
Assessing a market’s readiness for 5G FWA requires understanding how certain factors affect the deployment and adoption of 5G FWA services.
- Spectrum availability
- 4G FWA availability
- CPE device affordability
- Technology-neutral spectrum licensing
- 5G network coverage
VoLTE in Africa 2023
There were 27 VoLTE operators in 16 African markets, with 44.7 million connections or 3.5% of total mobile connections. By 2028, there will be 234 million VoLTE connections in Africa, representing 14.5% of total mobile connections.
Technology-neutral Licensing
Technology neutrality has been adopted more widely in Eastern Africa. Meanwhile, there remains a lack of technology neutrality within West Africa and parts of Central and Southern Africa. The following figure compares the mobile market outcomes between countries with and without technology neutrality.
1.3% increase in 4G network coverage in case of Technology neutrality has been adopted, while 1.25 increase in Mobile internet penetration (%) in countries with technology neutrality adopted. 4/5G connection penetration increased by 1.88%.
Data Sources:
GSMA Technology Neutrality and Legacy Network Sunsets:
5G FWA in Africa: emerging trends and opportunities:
5G in Africa 2023: market status, trends and outlook:
Telecom Analysis 
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