African governments could unlock more than $120 billion in additional economic output by 2035 by reforming how they price and allocate mobile spectrum, according to a new report by the GSMA. The report warns that high licensing costs and limited access to frequencies are constraining investment in digital infrastructure.
The report, Spectrum Policy in Africa: Enabling Investment and Empowering Consumers Through Effective Spectrum Pricing, estimates that reforms implemented across the continent could increase 4G population coverage by three percentage points, extend 5G coverage by 11 percentage points and raise average mobile download speeds by 30% to 50%.
The projections highlight the economic stakes as African countries seek to expand digital services and attract investment in telecommunications infrastructure. The GSMA, which represents the mobile industry, argues that governments need to balance revenue from spectrum licences against the longer-term benefits of improved connectivity, productivity and digital adoption.
At the end of 2025, African mobile operators had an average of about 570 megahertz of spectrum below 7 gigahertz, compared with 750 MHz in the rest of the world, leaving the continent with roughly 24% less spectrum than the global average.
Yet operators paid 24% more per 100 MHz of spectrum relative to revenue than their counterparts elsewhere, according to the report, published in October 2026.
The findings point to a double constraint for the industry: operators have fewer frequencies to support network capacity and coverage, while the cost of acquiring spectrum can leave them with less capital to invest in infrastructure.
Connectivity gap persists despite investment
Africa’s mobile broadband coverage has expanded substantially over the past decade, rising from 59% of the population in 2015 to 92% in 2025. Fourth-generation network coverage increased from 7% to 83% over the same period, while fifth-generation networks reached 15% of the population by the end of last year.
But access to a network has not translated into widespread internet use.
Only 28% of Africa’s population used mobile internet on their own device at the end of 2025, compared with 66% in the rest of the world, the report said. The continent’s usage gap, representing people who live within mobile broadband coverage but do not use it, stood at about 64%.
Average mobile download speeds in Africa were more than 27 megabits per second in 2025, against 98 Mbps elsewhere. Average monthly mobile data traffic per connection was about 3 gigabytes, compared with 14 GB in the rest of the world.
The figures suggest that expanding network coverage alone will not close the digital divide. Network capacity, service quality, device affordability and consumers’ ability to pay for data will also shape adoption.
Operators are facing these investment requirements as their revenue base weakens. Average revenue per user in Africa fell by about 49% in real terms between 2015 and 2025, while revenue per gigabyte of data declined by 92%, according to the GSMA.
Despite those pressures, operators continued to invest about 20% of recurring revenue in capital expenditure, the report said. Lower revenue per connection, however, limits the absolute funds available for further network expansion.
Licensing costs add to investment pressure
The GSMA argues that the financial burden extends beyond the headline prices paid for spectrum.
In many African markets, operators must also meet licence conditions, including requirements to expand coverage or achieve specified quality-of-service standards. In the markets examined for the report, the cost of meeting these obligations was estimated to be three to 45 times the direct cost of spectrum.
The report identifies wider regulatory weaknesses that can make long-term network investment more difficult. Twenty-one of Africa’s 54 countries do not have fully technology-neutral licensing frameworks, while 26 lack a unified licensing framework.
Technology-neutral rules would allow operators to reuse spectrum previously assigned to older mobile technologies for newer services, including 4G and 5G, without additional regulatory costs or delays.
Only nine African countries have published spectrum roadmaps, which provide advance notice of future spectrum releases, and only nine have licence durations of at least 20 years.
The GSMA recommends that regulators provide longer licence terms and greater certainty over renewals, allowing operators to plan investments over a period more consistent with the lifespan of telecommunications infrastructure.
The report also forecasts that mobile data traffic in Africa will increase by a factor of 2.6 between 2025 and 2030, equivalent to growth of about 160%. That outlook raises the urgency of making additional spectrum available at prices operators can afford.
Ghana faces broader spectrum policy choices
Ghana is among the countries included in the GSMA’s assessment of spectrum assignments across Africa. The report’s country-level comparison shows that spectrum availability varies considerably across the continent, with Tanzania, Somalia and Nigeria among the countries that had assigned more than 1,000 MHz of low- and mid-band spectrum by 2025.
The report does not establish that every pricing and licensing problem identified at the continental level applies equally to Ghana. Its broader findings nevertheless highlight the importance of assessing spectrum policy against operators’ revenues, investment needs and the country’s future demand for mobile data.
For Ghana and other markets, the GSMA recommends publishing long-term spectrum allocation plans, making spectrum designated for mobile services available, and adopting licensing frameworks that allow operators to use frequencies more flexibly.
It also recommends that governments allocate the full upper 6 GHz band for mobile use over the next 10 to 15 years to meet future mid-band capacity requirements in high-demand urban areas. The 600 MHz band should be allocated for mobile use to support coverage in rural areas and deep indoor locations, the report said.
The recommendations would require regulators to weigh the public revenue generated by spectrum assignments against the potential costs of leaving frequencies unused or pricing them beyond operators’ ability to invest.
Tanzania offers a model for spectrum allocation
The report points to Tanzania’s July 2025 auction of 200 MHz in the 3.6 GHz to 3.8 GHz band as an example of how spectrum can be assigned while keeping costs proportionate to the capacity awarded.
The Tanzania Communications Regulatory Authority set reserve prices at a 30% discount to estimated market prices to encourage competitive bidding and price discovery. Three operators received four blocks under 15-year licences, with coverage and service-quality obligations and flexible payment terms.
Although Tanzania’s overall spectrum costs rose after the auction, the GSMA found that the cost per unit of spectrum remained broadly unchanged. Tanzania subsequently had the highest spectrum holdings in Africa, according to the report.
The example contrasts with Egypt, where spectrum costs rose more than fivefold in nominal terms over the past decade and by more than 50% in real terms. The report attributes more than half of the increase to currency depreciation, noting that spectrum and licence fees denominated in US dollars became more expensive relative to operators’ local-currency revenues.
Over the same period, operator revenues in Egypt declined by 16% and investment fell by 40%, the GSMA said.
The comparison illustrates the report’s central argument that spectrum policy cannot be assessed by auction prices alone. Licence duration, payment arrangements, coverage requirements, exchange-rate exposure and the amount of spectrum awarded all influence the financial burden on operators.
Reform could lift economic output
The GSMA recommends that spectrum allocation should prioritise the operators expected to deliver the greatest social and economic benefits rather than maximise government revenue.
It calls for lower reserve prices to encourage competitive bidding, an end to additional annual charges where operators have already paid for spectrum at auction, and discounts to offset the cost of mandatory licence obligations.
The report also advocates a presumption of licence renewal for existing users, spectrum trading and leasing, and licence durations of at least 20 years.
If African countries implement the proposed reforms, the GSMA estimates that the continent could gain 50 million additional people covered by 4G networks and 170 million by 5G by 2035. Average download speeds could rise by 30% to 50%, while cumulative GDP could increase by more than $120 billion between 2026 and 2035, measured in 2024 prices.
The report says the reforms could lift Africa’s GDP by as much as 0.5% by 2035.
Those figures are projections based on the GSMA’s modelling, not guaranteed outcomes. Their realisation would depend on governments adopting the recommendations and operators translating lower spectrum costs and greater regulatory certainty into additional investment.
For African policymakers, the challenge is to make spectrum policy support both public-interest objectives and the commercial investment required to deliver better connectivity. The GSMA’s findings suggest that the way governments price and license this scarce resource could influence not only the performance of mobile networks but also the pace of the continent’s wider digital development.
