Mozambique telcos submit 5G spectrum proposals to regulator

Details: John Tanner; Category: Regulation; 21 April 2026; 339 views

Mozambique’s Communications Regulatory Authority (INCM) has kicked off plans to allocate 5G spectrum after receiving proposals from the country’s three main telcos – Tmcel, Vodacom Mozambique and Movitel.

In a statement on Friday, INCM said its plans to allocate frequencies in the 700 MHz, 2.6 GHz and 3.5 GHz bands, which it considers essential to strike an efficient balance between geographical coverage, network capacity and service quality of 5G networks.

The Mozambique government decided in October 2025 to allocate frequencies via administrative consignment rather than hold an auction, as it would better enable the government to impose conditions on telcos to hit coverage and service quality benchmarks.

The proposals submitted by Tmcel, Vodacom Mozambique and Movitel on Friday outlined how each would meet the conditions attached to the 5G spectrum allocations.

INCM said 5G spectrum licencees must maximise the spectrum’s social and economic value, and be able to roll out 5G progressively at the national level, with a focus on rural, peri-urban areas and “areas of high economic and social impact”.

They will also have to adhere to quality of service and network performance standards set by INCM, and create conditions sustainable implementation.

With the proposals all submitted, INCM said it will begin technical, economic and regulatory evaluations of the applications.

“The introduction of 5G represents a decisive step for the acceleration of the digitization of the economy, promoting the emergence of new services and digital applications, as well as the strengthening of the competitiveness of the communications sector,” the INCM statement said.

The regulator did not give a timeline for when the applications would be approved or when the spectrum would be allocated.

According to Datareportal, citing stats from GSMA Intelligence, there were 19.1 million mobile connections in Mozambique at the end of 2025, which works out to a penetration rate of just over 53%. However, only 19.8% of people are connected to the internet as of October 2025, according to the latest figures from Kepios.