Scaling new frontiers – the potential of 5G for Africa

The dawn of 5G in Africa is here with us and what was once seen as a dream has turned to reality, albeit with revised expectations. South Africa became the first country in Africa to offer commercial 5G services with Rain, Vodacom and MTN piloting it in various cities and using different methods to reach their clients.   Rain launched the country’s first commercial 5G network in partnership with China’s Huawei Technologies in 2019 in Johannesburg and Tshwane, offering subscribers unlimited data at speeds of up to 700Mbps for R1,000 per month. Since launch Rain has doubled its 5G coverage,  achieving it by adding more sites and providing a new 5G router to users.  Vodacom’s launch to the mobile market covered three cities: Johannesburg, Pretoria and Cape Town. It was able to fast track the launch by using a temporary spectrum assigned by the South African telecommunications regulator ICASA.   MTN said it launched 5G services across 100 network towers in Johannesburg, Cape Town, Bloemfontein, Port Elizabeth and several smaller towns.  Apart from South Africa, there have been increased trials of the fifth-generation technology in countries across Africa mainly in Kenya, Nigeria, DR Congo, Senegal, Algeria and Egypt.  Kenya through its main telecommunication company