The shape of South Africa’s telecoms network infrastructure has undergone significant changes in the past twelve months, with further shake-ups on the horizon. From operator-led towercos and Cell C’s plans to rebuild their tower portfolio, to American Tower’s acquisition of Eaton Towers and the Government’s proposal to create a Wholesale Open Access Network. Such developments made for interesting debate at TowerXchange’s 2016 South Africa roundtable as participants voiced their concerns, ambitions and forecasts for the year ahead.
The current shape of the South African mobile market and tower industry
South Africa has four MNOs, with Vodacom and MTN leading the market with 38% and 36% of mobile subscribers respectively, Cell C possessing 23% market share and Telkom accounting for just 3%.
