The $10 Billion Bill: Why African Operators Pay More for Less Spectrum

Over the next ten years, more than 200 mobile spectrum licences across Africa will come up for renewal, carrying a combined value of over $10 billion. How regulators price those renewals will determine whether 170 million more Africans get access to fifth-generation cellular networks or whether the regional digital divide widens further. To understand why these renewals carry decisive weight for digital infrastructure, policymakers must examine current baseline metrics.