Seychelles' mobile phone operator Intelvision says it will launch the country's 5G network next year at a cost of US$25-million.

The company said it will roll the network out in June 2020, with the help of China's Huawei Technologies.

Intelvision founder Mukesh Valabihji said the 5G network will cover 95% of the island nation, unlike the current 4G network that covers only 50% of the country.

Valabihji added that the network will be launched initially in the capital Victoria and the international airport, and then further afield.

He said combining cutting-edge technology, 5G should offer connections that are multitudes faster than current connections in the country with average downloads speeds of around 1Gbps.

According to Valabihji, the company holds a 65% share of the residential internet users' market in the country.

Valabihji was quoted by the local Seychelles Nation newspaper as saying "For Seychelles, what is more important is the after-service. Huawei has over 200 technicians based in Mauritius and many more in South Africa and so if there is a problem, someone can be here within 24 hours. And that is the agreement we have with them. It is a turkey project so they will do everything from start to finish until they hand over the whole system to us."

Commenting on the development, Andrew Makanya, a telecom analyst at Computer Association of Zambia said the deployment of 5G network in Africa is becoming unstoppable and inevitable.

"Africa is moving faster in deploying the 5G network than industry experts thought or expected. Plans for the 5G network are already advanced in Zambia, Nigeria among other countries and now it's Seychelles. South Africa already has the network in some places," Makanya said.

A recent survey by GSMA Intelligence revealed that the adoption of 5G networks in Sub-Saharan Africa is inevitable as it will be part of the future digital landscape.