Johannesburg, 24 Nov 2025
Africa’s next wave of digital growth depends on three priorities, accelerating 5Grollout, getting affordable 4G/5G devices into more hands, and ensuring digitalisation reaches every community.
This was the consensus from industry professionals speaking at the Mobile Broadband Solutions forum held on the sidelines of AfricaCom, through the launch of the Multi-Form Device Partnership Cooperation Initiative.
Setting the tone, Dr Philip Song, President of Huawei’s Small Cell Product Line, said the end goal is not connectivity for its own sake, but the digitalization it enables. “Access paves the way for digital prosperity,” he said, pointing to three practical possibilities for African economies: get connected, accelerate services and open new opportunities, and do all of it with the planet in mind.
“An “accelerated Africa” is 5G-enabled, sustainable, and capable of delivering richer, more immersive experiences for businesses and consumers”, he said.
That momentum will be driven by 5G adoption and smart deployment models, added Kenechi Okeleke, Senior Director at GSMA Intelligence. “5G is here. The question now is how we can make the most of it,” he said.
Outlining several key trends shaping Africa, he explained that 5G adoption is set to accelerate in the second half of the decade, which is critical, as just 19 of the 26 countries in Sub-Saharan Africa have allocated 5G spectrum.
He highlighted fixed wireless access (FWA) as a primary 5G use case for Africa because it is typically faster and cheaper to deploy than laying new cables across vast areas.
“Connectivity means little if people can’t afford the devices”, he called for domestic assembly and lower import duties and taxes. The GSMA is pushing governments and regulators across the continent to reconsider these tariffs, citing clear evidence that device taxes materially depress penetration.
Layered levies can lift handset prices by as much as 50%, he said, when South Africa’s reformed entry-level smartphones taxes, demand rose and feature-phone sales declined.
“In practice, smartphones are integral to daily life, yet roughly half of people in Africa still lack one,” said Karanja Gichiri, Head of Venture Management at Safaricom. “Improving access means putting the right device, at the right price, in the right hands.”
To meet the customers’ need for rich digital experiences at lower cost, Safaricom is partnering with brands like Huawei on products and services designed for real-world use, including time-based connectivity (e.g., 90 minutes of unlimited access) so fans can affordably stream a football match, with usage aligned to what they value most.
“It all comes down to taking the time to really understand the customer and tap into their unique needs, pain points and realities,” said Ireen Mokgalapa, Executive Head of Telkom’s Mobile Networks Operations. She outlined how Telkom has used market insights to define where the business can gain customers and how to retain customers.
The business is using this data at such a granular level that they have designed different packages based on customer preferences and behaviors. “But we need a high-quality network to support this,” she said, noting that this is why it’s so important to work with industry partners to identify opportunities to continuously evolve and innovate.
Samuel Chen, Vice President of Huawei Wireless Network Business Marketing, said Africa’s mobile industry has “added users at scale, driven traffic growth and lifted network speeds” over the last decade.
Calling mobile “an engine of economic growth and jobs,” he urged the ecosystem to close the affordability and access gaps by co-developing solutions for African realities so that “no one is left behind on the digitalization journey.”
“If we keep working together on practical, locally relevant innovation,” he added, “with new traffic, new experience, new business, new connection, and new energy-saving, we’ll unlock the next wave of ICT growth in Africa.”
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