New 5G network launching in South Africa
Comsol Networks is completing a multi-billion-rand debt and equity raise to build a new 5G network in South Africa, according to founder and Chief Executive Officer Iain Stevenson.
The telecoms-infrastructure firm that he started almost three decades ago reached a vendor-partner pact with Chinese technology-equipment company ZTE and plans to complete the build-out by the end of 2028, he said in an interview.
As part of the plan, Comsol has raised debt from FirstRand’s Rand Merchant Bank unit and added Platform Investment Partners and Wimsey Capital as new equity shareholders, he said.
Nedbank Private Equity exited the business, while Stevenson and pan-African PE firm Convergence Partners—whose chairman and founding partner, Andile Ngcaba, is a former South African telecoms policymaker—have become shareholders again.
“We are planning to deploy 2,000 base stations nationally,” Stevenson said. “With the equity and the debt raise, it’s multi-billions,” he added, declining to provide further detail on the exact amounts of the deals.
South Africa, the biggest and most developed economy on the continent, is experiencing rapid growth of its broadband market.
5G will likely comprise 67% of all residential fixed-mobile router connections by 2029 compared with 35% in 2024 as operators aggressively roll out coverage and offer attractively priced packages, local consulting firm BMIT said in a report.
The broadband market could reach R82.8 billion in revenue by 2029, it said.
Fixed mobile-access technology, which provides 5G broadband access through a router at home that connects wirelessly to a tower, suits areas where the economics of fibre become difficult and expensive, especially outside high-density areas.
Over the past decade, only about 15% of South African households have connected through fibre, mostly in major metro areas, leaving a large market where 5G fixed mobile-access networks can be deployed at lower costs.
Comsol previously secured 3.7 gigahertz spectrum-band allocation, ideal for 5G connectivity rollout, Stevenson said.
The company plans to build its new 5G network on a wholesale or business-to-business basis, he said.
While Comsol already holds significant spectrum assets, it plans to take part in upcoming auctions, said Stevenson.
The company plans to scale the network from 450 sites, covering about 1 million households, to national coverage by the end of 2028, said Stevenson.
“We build for demand that is coming, not for demand that is here,” said Stevenson.
“At the moment, the space is growing in excess of 30% and we are expecting even more than that — people need capacity.”
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