By Sonny Aragba-Akpore
Global System of Mobile Communication Association (GSMA) said that between 2023 and 2030, capital expenditure on fifth-generation (5G ) technology in Sub-Saharan Africa is expected to reach $62 billion, as part of a larger, broader $1.5 trillion global investment in the next-generation networks.
These figures, released at the last Mobile World Congress (MWC) in Barcelona, Spain, early in 2026, underscore the fast growth being recorded in 5G across the globe. Although Africa is seen as recording some measure of growth, there are no indications that the continent will quickly get out of the outskirts of globalisation. Only about 11% of the African population has coverage. South Africa leads the pack while Nigeria, Egypt and others trail behind.
By December 2025, 5G in Africa reached a significant milestone with 53 operators launching commercial services in 29 countries, driven heavily by Fixed Wireless Access (FWA) to bridge the digital divide. While adoption remained in early stages—estimated at ~3.8% of total mobile connections—14 additional markets are planned, focusing on urban areas in Nigeria, Kenya, and North Africa to boost connectivity and economic growth, according to GSMA Intelligence.
25 operators use 5G for Fixed Wireless Access (FWA) to provide home and office broadband in underserved areas. This is viewed as the primary near-term revenue generator, offering high-speed connectivity without extensive fibre installation. South Africa is the clear leader with significant investment from operators like MTN South Africa. In Nigeria, MTN and Airtel provide 5G coverage, with MTN deploying over 2,100 sites and offering unlimited, high-capacity data plans.
Safaricom significantly scaled up its sites to 1,700+, covering roughly 30% of the population and dominating in Kenya. Strong expansion is seen in Tunisia, Egypt, Morocco, and Algeria, often using mid-band spectrum for better coverage. But despite rapid rollouts, 5G penetration is only about 3.8% of total mobile connections, with 2G–4G still accounting for the vast majority of connectivity in Africa.
Power challenges are being tackled with solar-battery systems and infrastructure sharing, often using a “Network-as-a-Service” model. 5G is projected to contribute $ 10 billion to Africa’s economy by 2030, enhancing the fintech, health, and agriculture sectors. It’s been five years now since the introduction of 5G technology in Nigeria, but its coverage has been anything but robust.
Penetration is still very low, primarily because of poor and limited coverage. Apart from Lagos, Abuja, Port Harcourt, among a few other semi-urban and urban centres, the beauty of 5G is lost to a majority of the population despite its promise. While Lagos and Abuja have average coverage of 70% and 65%, respectively, the average in other parts of the few semi-urban and urban centres appears miserable.
Indeed, there is no coverage in many towns and cities at all. Early in 2026, Nigeria recorded 7.2 million 5G subscribers, representing 3.94% of the 182 million connected subscribers to various networks. MTN and Airtel are believed to be the only visible operators for now. The other licence holder, Mafab Communication, is yet to show any serious sign of the licence it acquired in 2021, at the same time as MTN. In all, 5G coverage is in pockets across the country despite the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) ‘s commitment to driving sector improvement by enforcing fair competition and pushing for network modernisation.
Subscribers are basically connected to 4G and 3G networks. When the regulator released industry performance data the other day in collaboration with Ookla, there was a manifest demonstration that the adoption of Niche Performance with newer technologies offers a significant boost to network performance, reinforcing this Technology Gap commitment.
“Key opportunities for sector advancement of 5G include overall national Quality of Service (QoS) in the data analysis. The NCC thinks that in order to close the Digital Divide, expanding 4G/5G coverage into underserved rural regions to acceptable results is certain to ensure equitable access and performance for all Nigerians.
Accelerating 5G deployment is expected to boost the significant coverage gap in high-demand areas to fall further behind competitors in urban areas (Lagos and Abuja) to serve the growing number of 5G-capable device users. “Focusing investment on improving latency and reducing jitter across all networks will ensure a high-quality experience for real-time applications. The NCC says Nigeria is deploying 5G, but having the infrastructure is only half the battle.
A true 5G experience means high speeds, low delay, and seamless connectivity. “But the report analyses the ‘5G Gap’, the difference between the theoretical capacity of the network (what it could do) and the experience users are getting (what it is doing). “Our goal is to identify exactly where investment is needed to turn ‘coverage’ into ‘real time performance “according to the NCC report. On the global level, GSMA, the platform for mobile communication service providers and equipment providers, said that 5G now covers over 50% of the global population, adding that Global 5G connections exceeded 2.7 billion by the end of 2025.
Approximately 20% of operators with 5G have launched live Stand Alone (SA) networks and project that this figure will be over 70 operators with faster adoption in 2026 The GSMA Intelligence 5G Connectivity Index highlights top performers to include Kuwait, UAE, Norway, Finland, Qatar, Denmark, Hong Kong, South Korea, China, and the USA.5G Fixed Wireless Access (5G FWA ) is a key use case, projected to reach 80 million connections by 2030, with 67% in Asia Pacific and 23% in Europe.
Asia Pacific continues to lead in SA deployment, with China, India, and Singapore in the top spots globally.
“The fastest-growing mobile technology is driven by momentum in major markets, including high adoption in the Asia Pacific and expanding, high-performance deployments in Europe and America “The International Telecommunications Union (ITU) explains that while 5G continues to expand, addressing the gap between high- and low-income regions remains a critical challenge for global digital inclusion.
ITU identifies regional disparities as a major hindrance in the race to bridge the digital divide. “While Europe and Asia-Pacific lead, coverage is significantly lower in other regions, with Africa and the Arab States lagging”.5G access is heavily concentrated in high-income nations (84% coverage), while low-income nations have only 4% coverage. It says 66% of urban residents have 5G access, compared to just 40% in rural areas.
The ITU has finalised the IMT-2020 specifications, defining the global standards for 5G, including both standalone (SA) and non-standalone (NSA) deployments.While 5G grows, 4G remains the key alternative in low-income areas, covering 92% of the global population. The ITU says while 5G momentum is strong, affordability and infrastructure gaps prevent equitable global access. 5G subscriptions are estimated to reach roughly three billion, representing over one-third of all mobile broadband subscriptions by 2026.
Europe leads in 5G coverage (72%), followed by the Americas (63%), and Asia-Pacific (62%). Coverage is significantly lower in the Arab States (13%), CIS (12%), and Africa (11%).
In high-income countries, 90% of the urban population has 5G access, compared to just 58% of the rural population. In low-income countries, 5G is almost non-existent in rural areas (10% of the urban population). More than 300 commercial 5G networks have launched globally, with over 2,700 new devices announced.
*Aragba-Akpore is a telecommunications expert and wrote in from Abuja
