High spectrum costs squeeze African telecom investment and digital growth

Spectrum costs squeeze African telecom investment and growth

Africa’s mobile networks have expanded significantly over the past decade, bringing coverage to more people. But wider coverage has not translated into widespread internet use or network quality on par with other regions.

A new report by the GSMA, Spectrum Policy in Africa: Enabling Investment and Empowering Consumers Through Effective Spectrum Pricing, identifies the high cost of accessing radio spectrum—the invisible radio frequencies that carry mobile calls and internet data—as a central bottleneck. African mobile operators pay significantly more for relatively less spectrum, leaving them with limited capacity to expand or improve service quality.

According to GSMA Intelligence, spectrum costs consume 0.82% of mobile operators’ revenue per 100 MHz in Africa, compared with 0.66% in the rest of the world. Meanwhile, African operators hold an average of about 570 MHz of spectrum below 7 GHz, 24% less than the global peer average of approximately 750 MHz.

The imbalance extends beyond price and availability to licence duration. Only nine African countries routinely grant spectrum licences lasting 20 years or more, while licences of 20 years or indefinite duration are standard across Europe, North America and developed Asian markets.

Lowering spectrum fees could free up vital capital for network expansion, but lower fees alone do not guarantee better connectivity. The crucial test for African regulators is whether more affordable access can be tied to measurable improvements in network quality and internet adoption, particularly in underserved communities where initial financial returns remain low.

Safaricom dismissed 118 employees for fraud in the year to March, even as fraud incidents fell 82%, pointing to a declining insider threat amid an intensified crackdown at Kenya’s largest telecoms operator.

The figure, disclosed in the company’s 2026 Sust a inable Business Report released on Tuesday at its Nairobi headquarters, is more than four times the 28 dismissals recorded in the year to March 2021. It equates to about 2% of the 5,648 people the report lists as employees.

Earlier disclosures put the tally at 95 in the year to March 2024 and 113 in the yea r to March 2025, so the climb has been steady rather than a one-off spike.

Insider conduct carries unusual weight at Safaricom as staff sit close to customer data, SIM registration and the agent network that moves money across M-PESA, Kenya’s dominant mobile-money platform. The report treats theft, falsifying company records, and unauthorised access to customer call records as gross misconduct that can result in dismissal.

“Our customers entrust us with their personal information, communications and financial transactions and expect our services to be secure, reliable and responsible,” Safaricom said in the report.

The report lists 118 fraud cases investigated and 118 dismissals, along with three disciplinary warnings, up from none the prior year. Referrals to law enforcement doubled from seven to 14. Fraud was the most common concern raised through Safaricom’s anonymous ethics hotline.

The rise comes as the company says its anti-fraud push is working. It cut fraud incidents by 82%, short of a 90% target, and recovered 46% of reported fraud losses. Monitoring and analytics also recovered KES 953 million ($7.4 million) linked to inflated agent commissions.

Safaricom said it moved from an investigation-led model to real-time detection covering internal, distributor and mobile-money fraud. The report does not break down dismissals by role, value internal losses, or say how many cases led to charges.

According to the report, fraud awareness training reached 5,643 people across staff, call centres, M-PESA, distributors and brand ambassadors, and 98% of employees completed the annual ethics programme.

Group Chief Risk Officer Nicholas Mulila said the company is committed to “embedding accountability across our operations.” Safaricom named in-person social engineering as the largest source of customer fraud.

The staff dismissals over fraud mirror what is happening in the banking industry, where sharper detection has also pushed dismissals higher. KCB Group, Kenya’s largest bank by assets, dismissed 60 staff for fraud in 2025, up from 34 in 2024, even as reported fraud incidents fell to 201 from 339, according to its sustainability report. Most of the 50 dismissals were in Kenya.

In May 2025, Equity Group’s chief executive officer, James Mwangi, said the lender had dismissed more than 1,200 employees after an audit of staff transactions, including personal M-PESA activity. Mwangi said the company would make such conduct audits a permanent practice, similar to performance appraisals.

Equity treated receiving money from customers as grounds for dismissal, a conflict-of-interest test wider than outright fraud. Safaricom’s figure covers only cases it investigated as fraud.

Outside finance, Kenya Power dismissed at least 20 employees over irregularities in the year to June 2025, including three who colluded with guards and drivers in a diesel-theft scheme that cost it KES 207.6 million ($1.5 million).

CANAL+ is struggling to turn around MultiChoice South Africa, the country’s biggest pay-TV operator, with revenue falling 3% in the nine months to September as lower subscription income weighed on performance.

The France-based media group is relying on revamped DStv packages and stronger content to reverse the decline. MultiChoice’s revenue fell 3% on a like-for-like basis to September 2026, according to CANAL+’s latest trading update released on Thursday.

The decline reflects underlying performance after adjusting for currency movements and changes in the scope of the business. On a reported basis, MultiChoice revenue rose 0.4% to €1.81 billion ($2.03 billion), benefiting from a material positive currency effect.

CANAL+ said the like-for-like decline was driven by lower subscription revenue in South Africa, partly offset by higher revenue in most other English-speaking African markets.

The decline moderated to 2% in the third quarter, from 3.4% in the first half. CANAL+ attributed part of the improvement to more favourable comparisons with the sporting events line-up in the previous year, rather than solely to the effects of its turnaround strategy.

The figures come as CANAL+ attempts to simplify MultiChoice’s offerings and strengthen the value proposition for subscribers following its acquisition of the South African pay-TV operator.

“We are making good progress with the MultiChoice turnaround plan,” CANAL+ chief executive officer (CEO) Maxime Saada said in the trading update. “In September, a new, simplified value proposition was launched in South Africa, providing subscribers with more content, greater choice, and better value for the same price.”

MultiChoice introduced the new packages on September 7, towards the end of the reporting period, leaving little time for their impact to reflect in the nine-month results. CANAL+ said the rollout would continue across English- and Portuguese-speaking African markets over the coming months.

The strategy comes amid wider changes to MultiChoice’s entertainment business, including the discontinuation of Showmax, MultiChoice’s subscription video streaming service, in April. CANAL+ has treated Showmax as a discontinued operation in its financial reporting.

The group has said it intends to continue investing in premium content, technology and strategic partnerships as it reshapes its entertainment offering. However, the latest trading update does not provide subscriber numbers or average revenue per user. This limits the available evidence on whether the changes are improving customer retention or spending.

At group level, CANAL+ reported revenue of €6.41 billion ($7.2 billion) for the nine months, up 37.5% from the same period last year. The increase primarily reflected the consolidation of MultiChoice following the acquisition, rather than equivalent growth in the underlying business.

On a like-for-like basis, group revenue declined 0.3%. Excluding MultiChoice, revenue increased 0.8% on a like-for-like basis, supported by French-speaking Africa and the group’s content production and distribution operations.

Africa and Asia revenue, including MultiChoice, rose 3.1% on a restated basis. But the figures conceal diverging performances across the continent: CANAL+’s Africa and Asia operations excluding MultiChoice recorded like-for-like revenue growth of 10.2%, while MultiChoice declined.

In French-speaking Africa, the group said subscriber growth was supported by a compelling content line-up and improved distribution efficiency. CANAL+ Telecom Africa, an African telecommunications and fibre broadband operator, also recorded double-digit revenue growth, driven by the expansion of its fibre-to-the-home network and stronger commercial momentum.

“We delivered a solid performance in the first nine months of the year as we continued to execute our strategy. Revenue was in line with our expectations, supported by strong momentum in French-speaking Africa and at STUDIOCANAL,” said Saada.

CANAL+ is also strengthening its sports offering to protect its position in the African entertainment market. The group secured exclusive rights to all UEFA men’s football club competitions across more than 40 countries for 2027 to 2031, alongside rights across Africa for the 2027 Africa Cup of Nations and its qualifying campaign.

CANAL+ said it remained on track to deliver its 2026 financial guidance, including €735 million ($825 million) in adjusted earnings before interest and tax and €250 million ($281 million) in targeted synergies measured by adjusted earnings before interest and tax.

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