Vanguard News
High spectrum prices, late 3G, 4G licensing slowing Africa’s broadband penetration
On
By Prince Osuagwu and Juliet Umeh
A new report by the Global System Mobile Association, GSMA, has hit out at Nigeria and other African countries for having the highest spectrum pricing in the world.
GSMA says this has accounted for why the continent is not making rapid progress in broadband penetration and network ubiquity.
The report: Effective spectrum pricing in Africa, noted that African countries even license some spectrums that aid innovative services like 3G and 4G spectrums very late, frowning that they ought to have known that spectrum licensing decisions and pricing in particular, play a crucial role in accelerating the adoption of mobile services and providing better networks and services for consumers and businesses.
Spectrum licensing decisions, and pricing in particular, play a crucial role in accelerating the adoption of mobile services and providing better networks and services for consumers and businesses. Our new
Effective Spectrum Pricing in Africa report is unprecedented in scope and depth, tracking spectrum assignments across nearly 50 African countries for the 2010– 2019 period.
The negative impacts of high spectrum prices on connectivity in Africa are unfortunately clear to see. It is an issue that has to be addressed for the region to take full advantage of the benefits mobile broadband can bring.
Advertisement
The report’s key findings are:
• Governments in Africa have assigned approximately half the amount of mobile spectrum compared with the global average. This gap in spectrum assignments has emerged and expanded over the last decade, making it difficult for operators to offer fast mobile broadband speeds. Governments in the region have also on average licensed 3G and