Mzansi is finally levelling up to its 5G Advanced era under the new National Radio Frequency Plan, but it may come with some downsides. It will be a rough road to get to the promised land.
The prayers of South Africa's mobile network operators will soon be answered when the National Radio Frequency Plan (NRFP) of the Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (Icasa) aggressively expands the nation's digital capabilities by increasing the amount of available high-demand spectrum by about 215%.
You have to go back to 2004, after the occasion of the second-to-last mobile spectrum auction, to recapture the same anticipation of a new mobile communications platform shift. Then it was 3G - which enabled the first mobile video calls. Now it's millimetre wave (mmWave) 5G and 5G Advanced that will supercharge the AI era.
CRYSTAL BALL 5G finally ready to fulfil its promise, but at the cost of equality June 30, 2026 It took 18 long years from 2004 for Mzansi to have its next spectrum auction, with the country's mobile networks falling a decade behind more developed economies, but this time we're far more prepared and ready for the next wave of connectivity.
Founding logic
As is his wont, Minister of Communications and Digital Technologies Solly Malatsi took the occasion of the NRFP approval as an opportunity to lean into the socioeconomic impact of the new spectrum plan - framing...
