--- title: South Africa’s mobile operators strike spectrum gold description: South Africa has formally allocated the upper 6GHz band (6.425–7.125GHz) to mobile networks (IMT/5G/6G) in its National Radio Frequency Plan 2026, giving... canonical: https://daily.dev/posts/south-africa-s-mobile-operators-strike-spectrum-gold-re9taq7k6 twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:site: @dailydotdev og:type: website og:site_name: daily.dev og:title: South Africa’s mobile operators strike spectrum gold | daily.dev og:description: South Africa has formally allocated the upper 6GHz band (6.425–7.125GHz) to mobile networks (IMT/5G/6G) in its National Radio Frequency Plan 2026, giving... og:url: https://daily.dev/posts/south-africa-s-mobile-operators-strike-spectrum-gold-re9taq7k6 og:image: https://api.daily.dev/og/posts/RE9TaQ7k6.png og:image:alt: South Africa’s mobile operators strike spectrum gold og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 630 og:locale: en --- > ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://daily.dev/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # South Africa’s mobile operators strike spectrum gold **[TechCentral](https://daily.dev/sources/techcentral)** · 4 min read · 0 upvotes · 0 comments ## Summary South Africa has formally allocated the upper 6GHz band (6.425–7.125GHz) to mobile networks (IMT/5G/6G) in its National Radio Frequency Plan 2026, giving mobile operators 700MHz of prime mid-band spectrum. Wi-Fi is confined to the lower 6GHz band (5.925–6.425GHz), which was already opened for Wi-Fi 6E and 7 in 2023. The decision mirrors Europe's approach and settles a domestic debate between cellular operators and Wi-Fi advocates. Existing microwave backhaul and satellite users in the upper band will need to be accommodated before licensing can proceed. Broadcasters retain the 470–694MHz band for digital TV for at least four more years. ## Full article daily.dev links to this article rather than hosting it. Read it at the original source: ## Similar posts on daily.dev - [Huge win for South Africa’s Wi-Fi lobby in spectrum fight](https://daily.dev/posts/huge-win-for-south-africa-s-wi-fi-lobby-in-spectrum-fight-6uazkp1cf) · TechCentral · 4 upvotes · 1 comments - [6G and Wi-Fi Are in a Tug-Of-War Over the 6 GHz Band](https://daily.dev/posts/6g-and-wi-fi-are-in-a-tug-of-war-over-the-6-ghz-band-ytemzflga) · IEEE Spectrum · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [Mobile operators locked out as Icasa opens 900MHz of spectrum](https://daily.dev/posts/mobile-operators-locked-out-as-icasa-opens-900mhz-of-spectrum-ibywqlbub) · TechCentral · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [South Africa’s leap to modern Wi-Fi has barely begun](https://daily.dev/posts/south-africa-s-leap-to-modern-wi-fi-has-barely-begun-bt2serrbi) · TechCentral · 0 upvotes · 0 comments --- Tags: [#tech-news](https://daily.dev/tags/tech-news), [#networking](https://daily.dev/tags/networking) [View this post on daily.dev](https://daily.dev/posts/south-africa-s-mobile-operators-strike-spectrum-gold-re9taq7k6) ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180},"sameAs":["https://twitter.com/dailydotdev","https://github.com/dailydotdev","https://www.linkedin.com/company/daily-dev-ltd"]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https://daily.dev/#website","url":"https://daily.dev","name":"daily.dev","publisher":{"@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization"},"potentialAction":{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https://daily.dev/search?q={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"TechArticle","headline":"South Africa’s mobile operators strike spectrum gold","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/south-africa-s-mobile-operators-strike-spectrum-gold-re9taq7k6","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/south-africa-s-mobile-operators-strike-spectrum-gold-re9taq7k6"},"datePublished":"2026-07-26T16:02:53.888Z","dateModified":"2026-07-26T16:03:16.940Z","description":"South Africa has formally allocated the upper 6GHz band (6.425–7.125GHz) to mobile networks (IMT/5G/6G) in its National Radio Frequency Plan 2026, giving...","image":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/f_auto,q_auto/v1/posts/6edd3167fb6e2cb3a2b9b371d089c86d?_a=AQAEuop","thumbnailUrl":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/f_auto,q_auto/v1/posts/6edd3167fb6e2cb3a2b9b371d089c86d?_a=AQAEuop","isAccessibleForFree":true,"articleSection":"TechCentral","inLanguage":"en","publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180}},"author":{"@type":"Organization","name":"TechCentral","logo":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/s--RsqLDZrL--/f_auto/v1717745297/logos/techcentral","url":"https://daily.dev/sources/techcentral"},"commentCount":0,"discussionUrl":"https://daily.dev/posts/south-africa-s-mobile-operators-strike-spectrum-gold-re9taq7k6","interactionStatistic":[{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"LikeAction"},"userInteractionCount":0},{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"CommentAction"},"userInteractionCount":0}],"keywords":"tech-news,networking","timeRequired":"PT4M"} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https://daily.dev"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"TechCentral","item":"https://daily.dev/sources/techcentral"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"South Africa’s mobile operators strike spectrum gold"}]} ```