Africa’s mobile networks have expanded significantly over the past decade, bringing coverage to more people. But wider coverage has not translated into widespread internet use or network quality on par with other regions.
A new report by the GSMA, Spectrum Policy in Africa: Enabling Investment and Empowering Consumers Through Effective Spectrum Pricing, identifies the high cost of accessing radio spectrum—the invisible radio frequencies that carry mobile calls and internet data—as a central bottleneck. African mobile operators pay significantly more for relatively less spectrum, leaving them with limited capacity to expand or improve service quality.
According to GSMA Intelligence, spectrum costs consume 0.82% of mobile operators’ revenue per 100 MHz in Africa, compared with 0.66% in the rest of the world. Meanwhile, African operators hold an average of about 570 MHz of spectrum below 7 GHz, 24% less than the global peer average of approximately 750 MHz.
The imbalance extends beyond price and availability to licence duration. Only nine African countries routinely grant spectrum licences lasting 20 years or more, while licences of 20 years or indefinite duration are standard across Europe, North America and developed Asian markets.
Lowering spectrum fees could free up vital capital for network expansion, but lower fees alone do not guarantee better connectivity. The crucial test for African regulators is whether more affordable access can be tied to measurable improvements in network quality and internet adoption, particularly in underserved communities where initial financial returns remain low.
Africa’s connectivity gap goes beyond coverage
The scale of the challenge is evident in the gap between network availability and actual internet use. According to the GSMA report, mobile broadband coverage in Africa rose from 59% of the population in 2015 to 92% in 2025. Over the same period, 4G coverage expanded from 7% to 83%, while 5G reached 15% of the population by the end of 2025.
Yet wider coverage has not translated into widespread adoption. In 2025, only 28% of Africa’s population used mobile internet on their own devices, compared with 66% in the rest of the world, the report noted. About 64% lived within reach of mobile broadband but did not use mobile internet, while another 8% remained outside mobile broadband coverage altogether.
The figures point to a two-sided challenge: extending networks to people still beyond their reach and making internet access useful and affordable for those already covered. Spectrum pricing can influence operators’ ability to invest in network capacity and expansion, but closing the usage gap also depends on factors such as device affordability, data prices, and digital skills.
This distinction matters. Extending a network to a community does not guarantee that residents can afford smartphones, data, or reliable electricity. Nor does coverage automatically mean that users will experience fast, dependable connections.
Average mobile download speeds in Africa reached just over 27 Mbps in 2025, against 98 Mbps in the rest of the world. African users consumed an average of around 3 GB of mobile data per connection each month, compared with 14 GB elsewhere. These figures point to a challenge that involves both network capacity and people’s ability to use the internet.
Why spectrum prices matter
Operators need spectrum to carry increasing volumes of mobile traffic. But the GSMA estimates that African operators had an average of 570 MHz of mobile spectrum below 7 GHz assigned to them at the end of 2025, compared with 750 MHz in the rest of the world.
Despite having less spectrum, African operators face higher per-unit costs for the assigned spectrum. When spectrum costs are adjusted for the amount of spectrum held and compared with operator revenues, the burden is about 24% higher in Africa than elsewhere.
That burden comes at a difficult time for the industry. Average revenue per user across Africa fell by about 49% in real terms between 2015 and 2025, according to the report. Revenue earned per gigabyte also declined sharply as data services became more affordable. Operators are therefore expected to serve more users and handle more traffic while earning less per connection.
High spectrum costs can squeeze the money available for network expansion. They may also discourage operators from acquiring additional frequencies, leaving valuable spectrum unused while networks struggle with capacity constraints.
The pressure is particularly important as mobile data traffic in Africa is forecast to grow by around 160% between 2025 and 2030. Without sufficient spectrum and investment, growing demand could worsen congestion and weaken service quality.
Egypt and Tanzania show why pricing matters
The report’s comparison of Egypt and Tanzania illustrates how spectrum policy can influence investment conditions.
In Egypt, spectrum costs have risen sharply amid currency depreciation and inflation. Because some spectrum and licence fees were denominated in US dollars while operators earned revenue in Egyptian pounds, currency movements increased the effective cost. Operators also paid a combined $600 million for 5G licences without receiving additional spectrum in return.
Over the past decade, Egypt’s spectrum costs increased more than fivefold in nominal terms and by more than 50% in real terms. Meanwhile, operator revenues fell by 16%, and investment declined by 40%, the report says. These figures do not establish that spectrum prices alone caused the investment decline, but they demonstrate how rising costs and weakening revenues can combine to constrain spending.
Tanzania offers a different approach. In July 2025, its regulator auctioned 200 MHz of spectrum in the 3.6–3.8 GHz band, which is widely used for 5G. Reserve prices were set at a 30% discount to estimated market prices, and operators were allowed to spread payments over time. Coverage obligations were also designed around achievable rollout targets.
Tanzania increased the amount of spectrum available to operators without significantly raising the per-unit cost burden, according to the report. The lesson is not that spectrum should be cheap, but that pricing, payment terms, licence duration and coverage requirements should work together to support investment.
Lower fees need to lead to measurable investment
Spectrum pricing is only one part of the problem. Governments can reduce fees, but operators may still hesitate to build in areas where populations are dispersed, incomes are low, electricity is unreliable or backhaul infrastructure is expensive.
Licence obligations can also make spectrum more costly than the headline fee suggests. In Benin, the report estimates that coverage and service-quality obligations add costs equivalent to 66% of annual operator revenue, compared with direct spectrum costs of 7%. In Rwanda and Uganda, obligations also substantially increase the overall burden.
Such requirements can serve a public purpose by extending services to underserved areas. But if they are too expensive or poorly designed, they can undermine the investment they are meant to encourage. Regulators need to align obligations with local conditions and consider discounts or other incentives when operators are required to serve commercially unattractive areas.
The GSMA recommends setting spectrum prices according to the value operators can realistically generate, rather than relying on outdated auction benchmarks.
The economics of serving remote communities go beyond building a mobile tower. Where electricity and transport infrastructure are weak, operators must invest in power systems, transport fuel over difficult roads, and build backhaul links connecting sites to the wider network. Equipment theft adds replacement costs, while poor access increases routine maintenance costs. GSMA Intelligence estimates that remote rural base stations cost 35–40% more to operate than urban sites, on average. These recurring expenses help explain why cheaper spectrum alone may not make rural coverage obligations commercially viable.
It also calls for longer licence terms, predictable renewal rules, technology-neutral licensing and clear roadmaps showing when additional spectrum will become available.
These measures would give operators greater confidence in planning and financing network upgrades. The report estimates that reforms could bring an additional 50 million people within 4G coverage and 170 million within 5G coverage by 2035, while increasing average download speeds by 30–50%. It projects more than $120 billion in additional cumulative economic output across Africa between 2026 and 2035. These are projected benefits, not guaranteed outcomes.
The real test is what consumers gain
Lower spectrum fees should not be treated as an end in themselves. Their value lies in whether they help operators invest in stronger networks, extend coverage to underserved areas and improve the quality and affordability of services.
That requires governments to measure what happens after fees change: how much new spectrum is assigned, how much operators invest, where new infrastructure is built, and whether connection speeds and coverage improve. Regulators must also distinguish between better network availability and greater internet adoption, which depends on device costs, data prices, digital skills and other barriers.
For consumers, the ultimate benefit should be more than a healthier balance sheet for telecom operators. It should mean fewer dropped connections, faster downloads, more reliable access to online services and a realistic chance for underserved communities to get connected.
Spectrum policy alone cannot solve Africa’s digital divide. But if governments price the spectrum in ways that preserve investment capacity and tie public obligations to achievable outcomes, lower fees could become a meaningful part of the solution. Whether Africans actually get better connectivity will depend on what operators and regulators do with that opportunity.
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