According to a report published by GSMA, mobile operators across Africa are paying roughly 24% more for each unit of spectrum relative to their revenue than operators in the rest of the world.
The study, titled Spectrum Policy in Africa, finds that at the end of 2025 African operators held an average of about 570 MHz of spectrum below 7 GHz, compared with roughly 750 MHz held by operators elsewhere. When spectrum cost is expressed as a share of revenue and adjusted for the amount of spectrum owned, African firms spend 0.82% of revenue per 100 MHz, versus 0.66% elsewhere.
These higher costs matter most to the operators themselves, to investors tracking telecom profitability, and to businesses that rely on affordable mobile data. Higher spectrum fees can squeeze margins, limit network upgrades and keep data prices high for end users.
Why the cost gap matters
Revenue per user in Africa has fallen by almost 50% in real terms over the past decade, and revenue per megahertz per connection is down by more than 69%. At the same time, only 28% of Africans use mobile internet on their own device, far below the 66% share seen in the rest of the world. The combination of shrinking revenues and higher spectrum fees creates a double-handed pressure on operators.
Licence conditions can amplify the burden. In Benin, direct spectrum costs are estimated at 7% of operator revenue, but coverage and quality-of-service obligations attached to the licences add a further 66% cost component.
GSMA recommends several regulatory changes: lower reserve prices at auctions, licences of at least 20 years, the freedom to use any technology in any band, and the publication of clear spectrum road-maps. Only nine of Africa’s 54 countries currently have licence terms of 20 years or more, and only nine have published a road-map.
South Africa is an outlier in a positive sense. After the 2022 auction that raised R14.4 billion, the country holds the fifth-largest spectrum portfolio on the continent and is not listed among the 14 markets with above-average spectrum cost burdens. A previous GSMA study also identified South Africa as one of the world’s most cost-effective markets for mobile spectrum.
The National Radio Frequency Plan 2026, overseen by the regulator Icasa, has already earmarked the full upper 6 GHz band (6.425 GHz to 7.125 GHz) for mobile use, aligning with GSMA’s call for a primary 6 G band.
Rwanda provides a concrete example of the impact of opening spectrum to competition. Between 2013 and 2022 the country assigned the 800 MHz and 2.6 GHz bands exclusively to a single wholesale operator. When those bands were opened to all operators in 2022, 4G penetration rose from about 2% to more than 30% of the population within two years, despite existing coverage.
In South Africa, the government recently withdrew the spectrum set-aside for the wireless open-access network (Woan), freeing Icasa to include those frequencies in the upcoming 2026/2027 auction. This move could increase the amount of spectrum available to commercial operators and ease the cost pressure.
GSMA estimates that its proposed reforms could extend 5G coverage to an additional 170 million people and add more than $120 billion to Africa’s GDP between 2026 and 2035. Those figures are projections from the industry body and have not been independently verified.
For operators, the immediate implication is a need to engage regulators and advocate for longer licence terms and lower auction reserves. For businesses that depend on mobile connectivity, lower spectrum costs could translate into cheaper data plans and faster network roll-outs, improving the digital environment that underpins many South African enterprises.
