Sixty-three percent of people across Africa who live within network coverage remain unconnected — a usage gap that rises to 65% in Sub-Saharan Africa — yet regulators from Senegal, Namibia and Tunisia argue the continent cannot wait to finish deploying 4G and 5G before engaging with global 6G discussions.

Speaking at this year's Africa Spectrum Management Conference in Tunis, the three administrations laid out positions that balance today's coverage shortfalls against the need to influence spectrum decisions at WRC-27, where the 7–8 GHz range is under study for IMT identification.

Elizabeth Migwalla, Vice President for International Government Affairs at Qualcomm, reminded delegates that this dynamic has recurred at every generational transition. "When 3G was being rolled out," she recalled, "some administrations were already planning spectrum for 4G even though future demand was not yet visible everywhere."

At each transition since, she has heard sceptics argue that African markets would never need the next generation of technology. The real choice for the continent, she told the conference, is not whether every market needs 6G immediately, but whether to help shape the emerging global standards conversation now or risk letting it be determined by others.

"If we meet again after WRC-27, what single decision or commitment would show that Africa has moved from reacting to global connectivity trends to actively shaping them?" Migwalla asked.

From coverage to inclusion

Mandialy Bodian, Head of the Spectrum Studies and Planning Department at Senegal's telecoms and postal regulator ARTP, said data shows clear growth in smartphone penetration, mobile subscriber numbers and the shift toward 4G as the dominant network technology. But he identified the usage gap — 63% across the African region, 65% in Sub-Saharan Africa — as the more important regional issue.

Bodian argued Africa's long-term ambition should be to make connectivity a public utility. "We often talk about universal service, but when it becomes a public utility, we start treating it like electricity," he said. That means shifting from universal coverage to universal inclusion, and deliberately building connectivity into education, health and agriculture — what he called "the real foundations of our socio-economic development".

On spectrum assignments, Bodian set out a tiered approach: sub-1 GHz spectrum as the priority for less advanced markets; mid-band for economies scaling 4G and moving into 5G to densify networks and add capacity; and mmWave, alongside 6G planning, for markets that already have 5G in place.

On 6 GHz specifically, Senegal favours a split — Wi-Fi in the lower part, mobile in the upper part. "We have time to see, according to our needs," Bodian said. On the 7–8 GHz range being studied for WRC-27, he argued Africa should get ahead of future capacity needs now, describing it as a band that would support both network densification and the large capacity increases the region will eventually require.

He summarised his ask in three parts: "Predictable regulation, spectrum at a reasonable cost, and harmonised African positions. These are the three keys to good connectivity, universally, on the international stage, so that our technology serves our real needs in Africa."

Different speeds, different needs

Ronel le Grange, Technical Advisor to the CEO of Namibia's Communications Regulatory Authority (CRAN), argued that because African markets move at different speeds, their spectrum needs differ significantly. Some administrations are still closing 4G coverage and usage gaps while others scale 5G — and even 5G deployments vary, depending on whether operators have gone standalone or remain non-standalone.

She pushed back against treating coverage as the sole indicator of success. Meaningful access is not simply about a signal reaching an area, but about whether people can actually use voice and data services. "A simple SOS signal is not the same as meaningful connectivity," le Grange said.

On 6G spectrum, she raised a specific question for the 7–8 GHz range: "Will fixed link and satellite services incumbent in this range still be needed past 2030, or will mobile services become more prominent?"

National spectrum policy, she argued, should anticipate global band decisions rather than react to them, "because decisions taken elsewhere on low-band and mid-band release, technology-neutral licensing terms, and harmonised regional roadmaps will determine the equipment ecosystem, device costs and deployment timing available to African markets".

"The decisions taken today will determine how much influence and how much benefit Africa carries into the next generation of connectivity," she said.

Tunisia's roadmap

Dr Rahma Gharsallaoui, Head of International Affairs and Technology Watch at Tunisia's National Frequency Agency (ANF), drew a distinction between international identification and national action. Identifying a band for IMT use at a WRC is "an approach," she said, while assignment is "an action" every administration takes in its own time.

WRC-23 identified 1,000 MHz of additional spectrum for IMT use across ITU Region 1, of which the 6425–7125 MHz segment accounted for 700 MHz — the largest share — but what each country assigns nationally remains a separate decision.

Gharsallaoui does not see Africa's uneven pace as a weakness. "It is simply where the continent is," she said.

Tunisia itself has assigned 970 MHz of spectrum for mobile broadband across seven bands. The largest allocation is 360 MHz in the 3.5 GHz C-band, awarded to three national operators — Ooredoo, Orange and Tunisie Telecom — in January 2025. The 15-year licences carry 5G standalone coverage targets of 40% by 2027 via the 700 MHz band, rising to 95% nationwide within 15 years.

On 6 GHz, Tunisia backed the WRC-23 identification of 6425–7125 MHz for IMT but has since agreed, following a national commission review, on a phased domestic approach: the fixed service already operating in the band continues in the short and medium term under defined protection conditions, with IMT use envisaged in the medium to long term.

For Gharsallaoui, 6G "is not a new project or a future project, it is a continuation of today's roadmap". She framed Tunisia's mandated 5G standalone migration as the technical foundation for 6G networks, with every spectrum assignment decision taken now part of that groundwork.

She also announced that ANF has launched a consultation on revising satellite spectrum fees, lowering the cost per MHz to encourage mobile operators to adopt satellite services within their connectivity offerings — a pricing and affordability decision rather than a technical one.

Gharsallaoui sees a common African position for WRC-27 as the main priority in the coming months. "It's also an affordability and investment question," she said. "Predictable, flexible spectrum access is what gives operators the confidence to invest."