By Bonface Orucho: North African countries are sprinting ahead in 5G, completing a Mediterranean connectivity arc that leaves the rest of the continent behind. From Tunisia to Libya, the region now offers a live blueprint for how policy, investment, and urban density can drive Africa’s digital transformation.
North African countries are sprinting ahead in 5G, completing a Mediterranean connectivity arc that is pulling ahead of the rest of the continent. According to experts, the region is emerging as a live blueprint for how policy certainty, investment discipline, and urban demand can accelerate Africa’s 5G adoption and digital transformation.
“What we have seen in the past year in that region is a result of early regulatory clarity and disciplined investment, which has allowed 5G to scale quickly,” according to Mark Mokoka, a South African connectivity analyst and lecturer at the Durban University of Technology.
After a year of sequential rollouts along the Mediterranean rim, North Africa now stands as Africa’s 5G vanguard. Libya’s Almadar Aljadid activated commercial 5G in central Tripoli in late January 2026, completing a regional push that began in Tunisia and extended through Egypt, Morocco, and Algeria.
The initial rollout is limited to central districts, with staged expansion across Tripoli and nationwide coverage planned in the coming months, according to the operator.
That momentum stands in sharp contrast to the rest of the continent. By the end of 2025, Africa was projected to have around 54 million 5G connections, accounting for just 3.8% of total mobile subscriptions, according to GSMA Intelligence.
Most mobile users still rely on 4G and older networks, despite operators investing more than US$28 billion in mobile infrastructure over the past five years.
The gap is particularly visible in Africa’s largest mobile market. In Nigeria, the latest Quality of Experience data from the Nigerian Communications Commission and Ookla shows an average 5G coverage gap of about 55% as of December 2025.
This means that more than half the time, 5G-capable smartphones are unable to connect to 5G networks, even in major cities.
Lagos and Abuja, Nigeria’s two largest urban markets, recorded an average 5G coverage of just 27% and 31%, respectively, leaving the majority of fifth-generation devices operating on 4G.
While Nigeria launched 5G as early as 2022 through MTN, followed by Airtel and Mafab Communications, deployment has remained constrained by infrastructure complexity, power supply challenges, fibre cuts, and limited participation from licensed operators. As a result, only about 6.3 million Nigerians, or 3.6% of mobile subscribers, actively use 5G, with 4G still accounting for about 60% of connections.
The gap exists notwithstanding the growing adoption. A 2025 GSMA Intelligence report shows that across Africa, 53 operators in 29 countries had launched commercial 5G services by September 2025, driving roughly 54 million connections. North African markets have contributed disproportionately to that figure.
However, according to Mokoka, “North Africa’s experience shows what becomes possible when regulators and operators move in step.”
GSMA Intelligence notes that clear spectrum roadmaps and predictable licensing conditions “allow operators to compress rollout timelines and focus capital where demand is immediate.” In contrast, fewer than a third of African countries had assigned dedicated 5G spectrum by mid-2025, slowing commercial deployment elsewhere.
Tunisia set the pace with its early-2025 launch through Tunisie Telecom, rolling out 5G across Tunis and Sfax using the 3.5 GHz band. Median download speeds in the early months reached around 150 Mbps, reshaping streaming, remote work, and mobile enterprise use. Egypt followed in mid-2025, with Vodafone, Orange, and Etisalat Misr deploying networks in Cairo, Alexandria, and other major cities. Initial speeds exceeded 200 Mbps, enabling early experimentation with fintech platforms, cloud-based education, and remote collaboration tools.
Morocco’s late-2025 launch focused on Casablanca, Rabat, and key industrial hubs, supported by vendor partnerships with Ericsson and Huawei. Algeria followed a similar city-first approach, prioritising population centres to maximise early returns. Libya’s January 2026 launch in Tripoli now completes a continuous 5G corridor across North Africa, meaning every Mediterranean African country has live commercial 5G.
In Tripoli, residents report faster streaming, smoother online collaboration, and lower latency for gaming and business use. Local startups are beginning to test cloud-based applications, mobile platforms, and video services that were previously constrained by 4G limitations.
Consumer speed tests across North African markets show median download speeds in the low hundreds of megabits per second, according to Ookla data, delivering performance that is five to ten times faster than typical 4G connections.
Regulators have played a decisive role in shaping these outcomes. Morocco embedded coverage obligations into spectrum awards, forcing operators to prioritize dense urban rollouts.
Egypt’s 3.5 GHz spectrum sales drew heavy investment from major operators, while Tunisia and Algeria structured licensing frameworks around city-first deployment. According to GSMA Intelligence, policy continuity and regulatory certainty have allowed North African operators to move faster than peers across the rest of Africa.
Analysts also point to monetisation readiness as a quiet advantage. Across Africa, 25 operators had launched 5G fixed wireless access services by 2025, positioning home broadband and small businesses as early beneficiaries of 5G investment.
In urban North African markets with limited fiber, 5G FWA is emerging as one of the earliest commercial use cases, helping operators justify network expansion while improving household and enterprise connectivity.
Dense urban populations have allowed 5G to demonstrate immediate impact in North Africa, unlike rural-heavy markets where rollout costs, device affordability, and power constraints remain major barriers. While other African countries can replicate elements of the model, analysts caution that success depends on coordinated spectrum policy, affordable devices, and upfront capital investment.
Looking ahead, GSMA Intelligence projects that 5G will account for more than a fifth of Africa’s mobile connections by 2030, equivalent to nearly 390 million users.
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