The new millennium, in reference to the early 2000s, was marked by the penetration of the internet in Africa. Now, more than 20 years later, Africa’s tech ecosystem has grown to survive old technology giants and birth new start-ups that have led to increased broadband penetration in the continent. From the second (2G) to the third (3G), and even the fourth (4G) generation mobile network, the innovations in mobile networks have been evidenced by increased investment in the tech ecosystem in Africa.

Today, a new global wireless standard after 4G has been designed—the 5th generation mobile network (5G) and has been deployed in over 60 countries, and Africa has positioned itself to accept this innovation.

Telecommunications giant MTN conducted trials in Nigeria and South Africa before making a public launch in South Africa with Vodacom in July 2020. Kenya has also joined the sport after it officially rolled out its own 5G in April 2021. Albeit these are the only two countries across sub-Saharan Africa that have 5G in operations, it is not outside expectations that adoption would be seen first by the top economies in Africa before spreading to other countries. Already, 18 African countries have begun testing 5G, including Gabon, Lesotho, Uganda, and Egypt. Nigeria plans to roll out 5G in the first phase of 5G by the end of 2021.

The rise of the 5G network comes with numerous benefits that are unprecedented. Unlike the 4G network, which focused on delivering fast mobile broadband services, ushering in the era of mobile broadband penetration, 5G not only increases this broadband experience but also supports the inclusion of new services like massive Internet of Things and mission-critical telecommunications like in medical procedures. Machines, device, and objects can be virtually connected together, thus taking user experience to a whole new realm like never before. 5G is faster (more than 20Gbps peak data rates), has more capacity (more than 100 times increased network efficiency and traffic capacity), significantly lower latency (10x lower end-to-end latency), and wider spectrum use (from below 1GHz band to millimeter wave) than 4G.

While the penetration of the 5G network is seeing a faster adoption across the world than the 4G network, the same cannot be said of the rollout in Africa, even with the numerous benefits that it offers. It is a greater challenge in the African context when one considers that previous generations like the 3G and 4G recently overtook the 2G, to be precise, in 2019. No wonder the GSMA Mobile Economy report(pdf) says that 3G will remain the most dominant network (58%) for the 1.05 billion mobile connections projected in Africa by 2025. As the report aptly puts it, “the focus in the near term for operators and other stakeholders is to increase 4G uptake”. This is also underscored by the fact that Africa’s fast-growing population is dense with youths whose mobile phone penetration is still a target to be completely met, especially in low-income economies or economies with very high poverty index.

But given that the 5G network requires a smartphone that supports the new technology before it can put into use, mobile phone penetration in Africa can take a new course for preference of smartphones that are powered by the Snapdragon 5G Mobile Platforms. But this is just a singular benefit of 5G, thus portending a risk that Africa may be playing catchup with 5G when the sixth or seventh generation network is rolled out if or when it is.