South Africa's 5G population coverage jumped from 46.6% to 58% in a single year, but the rollout is heavily skewed toward urban centres. Rural areas in provinces like the Eastern Cape have as little as 7% 5G coverage, while 3G and 4G/LTE reach over 89% of rural populations nationwide. Operators have concentrated 5G investment in the three largest metro regions. A separate gap exists in fixed connectivity, with only 17.4% of households having fixed internet at home. Additionally, only 20% of the 21,878 government facilities required to be connected under spectrum licensing obligations have been connected, leaving thousands of schools, health facilities, and libraries offline. Icasa is calling for stronger monitoring and enforcement to meet national digital transformation goals.
