Last updated: 12 Jun 2025 Update History
Report Status: Current
Report Pages: 271
Analyst: Henry Lancaster
South Africa’s telecom sector boasts one of the most advanced infrastructures on the continent. There has been considerable investment from Telkom, Liquid Intelligence Technologies, Broadband InfraCo, and municipal providers as well as from the mobile network operators MTN and Vodacom, all aimed at improving network capabilities. Vodacom in late 2023 made a bid to merge with Maziv, in which it has a 30% stake, to improve its presence in the fibre broadband sector. This was blocked by the Competition Commission though the Vodacom has appealed.
The focus in recent years has been on backhaul capacity and on fibre and LTE networks to extend and improve internet service connectivity. With the ongoing migration to fibre, the incumbent telco Telkom is looking to close down its copper network. Several satellite solutions have also become available, aimed at providing additional backhaul and improving connectivity in rural areas. Starlink, which provides services in neighbouring Mozambique and Eswatini, has yet to receive a licence to operate in South Africa, though thousands of households access Starlink regardless.
The mobile sector has developed strongly in recent years, partly due to the poor availability and level of service of fixed-line networks, which meant that many people had no alternative to mobile networks for voice and data services.
A multi-spectrum auction delayed several times due to legal wrangling was finally held in March 2022. The delay caused difficulties for network operators, which were forced to refarm spectrum for 3G and LTE use, and provide 5G services on temporary licences. Six qualified bidders acquired spectrum. One of the conditions for licensees was to expand the availability of internet access to schools across the country.
Since 2022 the national power gird has come under considerable strain. Load-shedding became the norm, leading to telcos having to invest in other power sources (mainly diesel and solar), thus impacting on revenue. In 2024, telcos’ dependence on generators and batteries fell due to the load-shedding mitigation plan implemented by the electricity producer Eskom during the year.
Vodacom, MTN (MTN Network Solutions), Cell C, Telkom (Heita, 8ta), Virgin Mobile, Neotel, Atlantic Internet Services, Business Connexion, Internet Solutions, Verizon Business, MWEB, Vox Telecom (DataPro), Sentech, iBurst (WBS, Blue Label), Liquid Intelligence Technologies, Broadband InfraCo, Transtel, Eskom.
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