{"id":871055,"date":"2026-08-20T09:51:39","date_gmt":"2026-08-20T07:51:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=871055"},"modified":"2026-08-20T09:51:42","modified_gmt":"2026-08-20T07:51:42","slug":"new-5g-network-launching-in-south-africa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/telecommunications\/871055\/new-5g-network-launching-in-south-africa\/","title":{"rendered":"New 5G network launching in South Africa"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

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.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As part of the plan, Comsol has raised debt from FirstRand\u2019s Rand Merchant Bank unit and added\u00a0Platform Investment Partners<\/a>\u00a0and Wimsey Capital as new equity shareholders, he said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nedbank Private Equity exited the business, while Stevenson and pan-African PE firm Convergence Partners\u2014whose chairman and founding partner, Andile Ngcaba, is a former South African telecoms policymaker\u2014have become shareholders again.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe are planning to deploy 2,000 base stations nationally,\u201d Stevenson said. \u201cWith the equity and the debt raise, it\u2019s multi-billions,\u201d he added, declining to provide further detail on the exact amounts of the deals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

South Africa, the biggest and most developed economy on the continent, is experiencing rapid growth of its broadband market. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u00a0report<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The broadband market could reach R82.8 billion in revenue by 2029, it said. \u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Comsol previously secured 3.7 gigahertz spectrum-band allocation, ideal for 5G connectivity rollout, Stevenson said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The company plans to build its new 5G network on a wholesale or business-to-business basis, he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While Comsol already holds significant spectrum assets, it plans to take part in upcoming auctions, said Stevenson. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe build for demand that is coming, not for demand that is here,\u201d said Stevenson. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAt the moment, the space is growing in excess of 30% and we are expecting even more than that \u2014 people need capacity.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Comsol Networks is completing a multi-billion-rand debt and equity raise to build a new 5G network in South Africa.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":59,"featured_media":871058,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_sma_x_autopost_status":"posted","_sma_x_autopost_error":"","_sma_x_post_id":"2090346113240817843","_sma_facebook_post_id":"191437357620492_2181451759341890","_sma_instagram_post_id":"18333107305256861","_sma_x_attempts":1,"footnotes":""},"categories":[9882,31,21],"tags":[13329],"class_list":["post-871055","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-internet","category-it-services","category-telecommunications","tag-comsol"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/871055","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/59"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=871055"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/871055\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":871059,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/871055\/revisions\/871059"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/871058"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=871055"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=871055"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=871055"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}