High spectrum costs squeeze African telecom investment and digital growth

Africa’s mobile networks have expanded significantly over the past decade, bringing coverage to more people. But wider coverage has not translated into widespread internet use or network quality on par with other regions.

A new report by the GSMA, Spectrum Policy in Africa: Enabling Investment and Empowering Consumers Through Effective Spectrum Pricing, identifies the high cost of accessing radio spectrum—the invisible radio frequencies that carry mobile calls and internet data—as a central bottleneck. African mobile operators pay significantly more for…