Africa's 5G Expansion Is Gathering Pace as Data Demand Climbs

Sub-Saharan Africa is on track to become the world’s fastest-growing 5G market over the next five years, fueled by rising demand for high-speed connectivity, digital services, and emerging artificial intelligence applications.

According to the latest Ericsson Mobility Report released in June 2026, 5G subscriptions across the region are projected to surge from approximately 30 million in 2025 to 370 million by 2031. By the end of the forecast period, nearly three out of every ten mobile subscriptions in the Sub- Saharan Africa are expected to be on the 5G network.

The rapid adoption of next-generation networks comes as mobile operators continue phasing out older technologies. While 2G and 3G subscriptions are expected to decline sharply, 4G will remain the dominant mobile technology, growing from 490 million subscriptions in 2025 to around 610 million by 2031. LTE networks are forecast to represent 46 percent of all mobile subscriptions by 2031.

Additionally, overall mobile connectivity is expanding steadily. Total mobile subscriptions in Sub-Saharan Africa are expected to rise from 1.05 billion in 2025 to 1.31 billion by 2031, reflecting the region’s growing digital population and increasing access to mobile services.

Industry leaders say the transition to advanced mobile networks will play a critical role in enabling Africa’s participation in the global AI-driven economy.

Majda Lahlou Kassi, Vice President and Head of Ericsson West and Southern Africa, said the ongoing migration from legacy networks creates an opportunity for African countries to accelerate innovation and economic growth. She emphasized that continued investment in spectrum allocation, infrastructure, and supportive regulatory policies will be essential to unlocking the full benefits of next-generation connectivity.

The report also highlights a sharp increase in data usage across the region. Average monthly mobile data consumption per smartphone user is forecast to more than double, rising from 5.3 GB in 2025 to 12 GB by 2031. At the same time, total mobile data traffic is expected to climb from 2.8 EB per month to 9.7 EB monthly during the same period.

As connectivity demand grows, telecom operators are expanding beyond traditional mobile services. Fixed Wireless Access (FWA) is emerging as a strategic growth area, providing broadband connectivity to households and businesses in locations where fixed-line infrastructure remains limited. Industry analysts view the technology as a key tool for narrowing the region’s broadband access gap.

The report also showed that evolving digital behaviors are reshaping network requirements globally, with uplink traffic increasing faster than downlink traffic for many operators. The trend is being driven by greater use of video collaboration platforms, cloud services, content creation, and data-sharing applications.

Alain Maupin, Vice President and Head of Ericsson East and North Africa, said future network architectures will need to support increasingly data-intensive services, including extended reality (XR), AI-powered applications, and autonomous connected devices. He also noted that programmable, high-performance networks will be critical for supporting Africa’s growing digital ecosystem.

Beyond the expansion of 5G, the report points to growing industry attention on the development of 6G technologies, signaling the next phase of innovation even as many markets continue scaling current-generation networks.

Globally, 5G subscriptions surpassed the three-billion mark during the first quarter of 2026, underscoring the accelerating shift toward advanced mobile connectivity worldwide.

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