Receive our free daily newsletter:
Telecommunications
Latest Articles in 60 Seconds
AfriForum has filed a Promotion of Access to Information Act request with the Department of Communications and Digital Technologies over Deputy President Paul Mashatile's announcement of BrainSAT Satellite Services, a state-backed satellite internet provider linked to an April 2024 memorandum of understanding with Space42 and BrainSAT Technologies signed in Dubai. The organisation questions the procurement process and notes Space42's Thuraya-4 service offers speeds of only up to 1 Mb/s, far below Starlink's 40 to 250 Mb/s, while government continues to block Starlink on racial grounds.
4G still dominates despite 5G expansionOpensignal's first-quarter 2026 data shows South African users spend 86.1% of connected time on 4G against 11.1% on 5G, even though 5G population coverage reached 58% in 2025. Mid-band spectrum carries almost all 5G traffic, with low-band 700 MHz and 800 MHz remaining almost entirely on 4G, a deployment choice rather than a spectrum shortage, unlike India, where low-band 5G use is far higher.
Affordability still blocks smartphone-dependent servicesGSMA data shows only 24% of Africans owned a smartphone in 2024, prompting six operators, including MTN and Vodacom, to develop a $30 4G handset that could bring 50-million people online. South Africa's April 2025 removal of ad valorem duty on smartphones under R2 500 reportedly lifted first-time buyers by 16% within six months.
Telecommunications Updates
The project aims to develop a new high-capacity submarine cable system to strengthen connectivity between Europe and Africa.
One year after signing a milestone public-private partnership (PPP) agreement, Powertel Communications and Paratus Zimbabwe have switched on the first phase of a landmark cross-border fibre...
Telecommunications giant Vodacom Group has partnered with the University of the Witwatersrand (Wits) on a leadership development initiative designed to prepare the next generation of leaders for...
There was a time when one could buy an air ticket, renew a TV licence, file tax returns, pay a bill or book a doctor’s appointment without downloading anything. Today, almost every service begins...
South Africans are still spending nearly eight times more connected time on 4G networks, despite the increasing coverage, handset availability and better performance of 5G networks, Opensignal’s...
The first phase of a landmark cross-border fibre project – a new high-capacity digital corridor to connect Zimbabwe to Botswana, Zambia, South Africa and the wider Paratus network across Southern...
Sub-Saharan Africa is forecast to have the fastest 5G subscription growth globally, rising from about 30-million in 2025 to about 370-million by 2031. By 2031, total mobile subscriptions in...
The Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (Icasa) has published the Numbering Plan Fourth Amendment Regulations (2025) to create a standardised framework for the churn, deactivation...
JSE-listed Vodacom Group has completed the acquisition of an additional 20% effective stake in Safaricom, increasing its shareholding to about 55%. This followed the staying of a conservatory order...
Seacom has launched new high-capacity terrestrial network route between Nairobi and Kampala, upgrading a long-established corridor into a modern, high-capacity backbone designed to support growing...
By: Junaid Kleinschmidt – Intelligence lead and Ntsako Baloyi – Data & AI lead for Accenture, South Africa Within the South African business community, cloud adoption has moved well beyond early...
Telecommunications and ICT giants MTN Zambia and Huawei completed the world's first commercial deployment of the new five-band LampSite solution at the Mulungushi International Conference Centre,...
Core enterprise systems have become economic infrastructure across various sectors, including financial services, telecommunications, retail and manufacturing, with enterprise resource planning,...
JSE-listed Telkom on Wednesday said it expects to report a double-digit increase in earnings from its continuing operations for the year ended March 31. Basic earnings per share (BEPS) and headline...
By Adheesh Ori – Customer and Growth lead for Consumer Goods & Services, Retail and Automotive at Accenture Song and Rajesh Duvooru – Commercial Account Director for Consumer Goods & Services at...
President Cyril Ramaphosa on Monday emphasised that transforming investment pledges into large-scale growth and job creation takes time, noting that achieving the National Development Plan's target...
A memorandum of understanding (MoU) has kicked off the initiation of the Via Africa submarine cable project, a major new Europe–Africa submarine cable project that will connect Europe to Africa...
Telecommunications firm MTN is commercialising a suite of AI-driven Internet-of-Things (IoT) solutions for the agricultural sector, while identifying private network infrastructure as an important...
Telecommunications company Vodacom Group on Tuesday expects double-digit increases in earnings for the year ended March 31. In a trading update, the group said that the strong results are expected...
Theft, vandalism and electricity outages continue to weigh on South Africa’s telecommunications sector, the Independent Communications Authority of South Africa’s (Icasa’s) latest ‘State of the...
Research Reports
Projects
Latest Multimedia
Subscribe to improve your user experience...
Option 1 (equivalent of R125 a month):
Receive a weekly copy of Creamer Media's Engineering News & Mining Weekly magazine
(print copy for those in South Africa and e-magazine for those outside of South Africa)
Receive daily email newsletters
Access to full search results
Access archive of magazine back copies
Access to Projects in Progress
Access to ONE Research Report of your choice in PDF format
Option 2 (equivalent of R375 a month):
All benefits from Option 1
PLUS
Access to Creamer Media's Research Channel Africa for ALL Research Reports, in PDF format, on various industrial and mining sectors
including Electricity; Water; Energy Transition; Hydrogen; Roads, Rail and Ports; Coal; Gold; Platinum; Battery Metals; etc.
Already a subscriber?
Forgotten your password?
Receive weekly copy of Creamer Media's Engineering News & Mining Weekly magazine (print copy for those in South Africa and e-magazine for those outside of South Africa)
➕
Recieve daily email newsletters
➕
Access to full search results
➕
Access archive of magazine back copies
➕
Access to Projects in Progress
➕
Access to ONE Research Report of your choice in PDF format
RESEARCH CHANNEL AFRICA
R4500 (equivalent of R375 a month)
SUBSCRIBEAll benefits from Option 1
➕
Access to Creamer Media's Research Channel Africa for ALL Research Reports on various industrial and mining sectors, in PDF format, including on:
Electricity
➕
Water
➕
Energy Transition
➕
Hydrogen
➕
Roads, Rail and Ports
➕
Coal
➕
Gold
➕
Platinum
➕
Battery Metals
➕
etc.
Receive all benefits from Option 1 or Option 2 delivered to numerous people at your company
➕
Multiple User names and Passwords for simultaneous log-ins
➕
Intranet integration access to all in your organisation
