5G in South Africa

Being Africa’s most developed economy, it is not surprising that the fast 5G mobile broadband technology made its debut in South Africa. Not only is it first in Africa, but the spread is growing fast with three 5G networks being active in South Africa as of July 2020.

Rain 5G

Launched in the Gauteng province in October 2019, this was the first commercial 5G network in Africa. Its 5G network covers some of the most populated areas of Johannesburg and Tshwane (Pretoria) metropolis respectively. Rain only recently extended its 5G coverage to the city of Cape Town.

Band

Rain makes use of the 3.6 GHz frequency.

Equipment

As of July 2020, Rain only supports 3 network-locked devices which are:

• Huawei 5G CPE X (outdoor and indoor)
• Huawei 5G CPE (indoor only; no longer on offer)

Rain only offers a fixed wireless 5G solution and does not support 5G smartphones at this time.

Price

Rain’s 5G offer starts from R699 per month on a 2-year contract.

Vodacom 5G

Vodacom South Africa launched its 5G network in May 2020 with very limited coverage Johannesburg, Pretoria and Cape Town – making it the first incumbent cellular network to do so.

Vodacom offers two 5G solutions: mobile and fixed wireless. Vodacom makes use of the 3.5GHz temporary spectrum from ICASA as well as a roaming agreement with Liquid Telecom.

Devices

Vodacom supports these 5G Smartphones

• LG Velvet 5G
• LG V50 ThinQ 5G

Fixed Wireless

• Nokia Fastmile 5G Gateway 1 router
• Huawei 5G CPE PRO

Price

Vodacom’s 5G fixed wireless offer starts from R899 per month on a 36-month contract.

MTN 5G

MTN’s 5G network was launched to much fun fair in June 2020.

The MTN 5G network makes use of 4 different major frequencies across South African towns and cities:

• 700 MHz – wide coverage for smaller towns
• 2100MHz and 1800MHz – re-farmed 4G spectrum
• 3.5 GHz – this is the sweet spot of speed and coverage
• 28 GHz – fastest network speed for high-density populated areas

Devices

MTN offers and supports these 5G smartphones:

• Huawei P40 Pro
• Huawei P40
• LG Velvet 5G

Fixed Wireless

• Sh@reLink CPE Pro 2 5G
• Sh@relink MC801A 75GB
• Sh@reLink E6878

Price

MTN’s fixed 5G solution starts from R499 per month on a 36-month contract.

5G Smartphones

The listed 5G smartphones are available for sale in South Africa and are supported by local 5G networks.

Samsung Galaxy Note20 Ultra 5G
Price: R36,999

• OS: Android 10, One UI 2.5
• Chipset: Exynos 990
• RAM: 12GB RAM
• Storage: 128GB/256GB/512GB, microSDXC
• Display size: 6.9″
• Display resolution: 1440×3088 pixels
• Camera:
  • Photo: 108MP
  • Video: 4320p
• Battery capacity: 4500mAh
• Weight: 208g
• Thickness: 8.1mm

Samsung Galaxy Note 20 5G
Price: R27,999

• OS: Android 10, One UI 2.5
• Chipset: Exynos 990
• RAM: 8GB RAM
• Storage: 128GB/256GB, no card slot
• Display size: 6.7″
• Display resolution: 1080×2400 pixels
• Camera:
  • Photo: 64MP
  • Video: 4320p
• Battery capacity: 4300mAh
• Weight: 194g
• Thickness: 8.3mm

Huawei P40 Pro
Price: R20,999

• OS: Android 10, EMUI 10.1
• Chipset: Kirin 990 5G
• RAM: 8GB RAM
• Storage: 128GB/256GB/512GB
• Display size: 6.58″
• Display resolution: 1200×2640 pixels
• Camera:
  • Photo: 50MP
  • Video: 2160p
• Battery capacity: 4200mAh
• Weight: 209g
• Thickness: 9mm

LG V60 ThinQ 5G
Price: R19,399

• OS: Android 10
• Chipset: Snapdragon 865
• RAM: 8GB RAM
• Storage: 128GB/256GB, microSDXC
• Display size: 6.8″
• Display resolution: 1080×2460 pixels
• Camera:
  • Photo: 64MP
  • Video: 4320p
• Battery capacity: 5000mAh
• Weight: 213g
• Thickness: 8.9mm

Huawei P40
Price: R16,999

• OS: Android 10, EMUI 10.1
• Chipset: Kirin 990 5G
• RAM: 6/8GB RAM
• Storage: 128GB/256GB
• Display size: 6.1″
• Display resolution: 1080×2340 pixels
• Camera:
  • Photo: 50MP
  • Video: 2160p
• Battery capacity: 3800mAh
• Weight: 175g
• Thickness: 8.5mm

LG V50 ThinQ 5G
Price: R12,699

• OS: Android 9.0, up to Android 10
• Chipset: Snapdragon 855
• RAM: 6GB RAM
• Storage: 128GB, microSDXC
• Display size: 6.4″
• Display resolution: 1440×3120 pixels
• Camera:
  • Photo: 16MP
  • Video: 2160p
• Battery capacity: 4000mAh
• Weight: 183g
• Thickness: 8.3mm

LG Velvet 5G
Price: R11,799

• OS: Android 10, LG UX 9
• Chipset: Snapdragon 765G
• RAM: 6/8GB RAM
• Storage: 128GB, microSDXC
• Display size: 6.8″
• Display resolution: 1080×2460 pixels
• Camera:
  • Photo: 48MP
  • Video: 2160p
• Battery capacity: 4300mAh
• Weight: 180g
• Thickness: 7.9mm

Huawei P40 Lite 5G
Price: R9,499

• OS: Android 10, EMUI 10.1
• Chipset: Kirin 820 5G
• RAM: 6GB RAM
• Storage: 128GB
• Display size: 6.5″
• Display resolution: 1080×2400 pixels
• Camera:
  • Photo: 64MP
  • Video: 2160p
• Battery capacity: 4000mAh
• Weight: 189g
• Thickness: 8.6mm