South Africa’s mobile network industry continued to see overall growth in customers, coverage, and revenues in 2023. Another key development was the Competition Commission’s recommendation that the Competition Tribunal not approve Vodacom’s proposed acquisition of a 30% stake in fibre player Maziv — which owns Vumatel and DFA. Vumatel and Maziv have argued that the deal will be to the benefit of South African consumers.
Among MTN’s most noteworthy developments were several innovative products focusing on affordable data. This side of the industry has seen several new players step up with disruptive products and pricing — including Afrihost Air Mobile and Melon Mobile. Telkom continued to grow its mobile subscriber base while its fixed subscribers declined due to the gradual decommissioning of its ADSL network. Cell C applied to have control of its spectrum and network licences transferred to another subsidiary of its parent company — Blue Label Telecoms. Icasa has Another major theme of the year has been how operators responded to the worst load-shedding South Africa has ever seen