Ask why rural Central Africa still has patchy or non-existent 4G coverage, and the conversation usually goes straight to the obvious culprits: low population density, expensive diesel, difficult terrain. Rarely mentioned is a quieter, entirely man-made obstacle sitting underneath all of it: the price operators pay simply to move traffic from a mobile site back to the core network.
That cost is mobile backhaul spectrum, the microwave links operators rely on wherever fibre cannot reach. And in markets like the Republic of Congo, the fees attached to it have become one of the most expensive, least visible barriers to digital inclusion on the continent.
According to a recent GSMA report on driving digital transformation of the economy in the Republic of Congo, this is no longer a marginal concern. It is one of the clearest, most quantifiable obstacles standing between current coverage levels and the country’s own digital strategy targets.
In this #TechTalkThursday article, we explore why backhaul spectrum pricing matters so much, what the GSMA’s findings on Congo reveal about the wider region, and what regulators can do to stop charging operators a premium to connect the people who need coverage most.
A fee ten times the regional norm
Backhaul spectrum is not a luxury input. Where fibre-optic backbone does not extend, it is the only practical way to link a mobile tower to the rest of the network. For 4G expansion into rural and remote areas, in particular, it is often the default solution rather than a fallback.
According to GSMA Intelligence analysis cited in the report, mobile backhaul spectrum fees in Congo amount to roughly 5% of mobile operators’ total revenues. The median figure for the rest of Sub-Saharan Africa sits at 0.5%. Congo’s operators are paying a multiple of what their peers elsewhere on the continent pay for the same essential input.
That gap does not stay with the operator. Spectrum fees are a cost of doing business, and in a capital-intensive sector like telecoms, costs of doing business get reflected in where networks are built, how fast they expand, and what customers ultimately pay.
Why this hits rural coverage hardest
Congo’s national coverage numbers look reasonably strong at first glance: close to 90% of the population lives within range of a 3G or 4G signal. The picture changes sharply once coverage is broken down by geography.
According to the report, mobile internet population coverage in rural areas stands at just 33% for 3G and 21% for 4G. Almost 80% of the rural population has no 4G coverage at all, and half has no coverage of any kind.
Rural sites are exactly where backhaul spectrum, rather than fibre, tends to be the connection of choice. That means the segment of the population furthest from being connected is also the segment where the cost of connecting them is being inflated the most by spectrum fees. The tax falls hardest precisely where coverage is weakest.
The wider pattern: spectrum policy as a brake, not a lever
Backhaul fees are only one part of a broader spectrum picture in Congo. Operators have also faced delayed spectrum assignments relative to other markets, ongoing cross-border interference issues with the Democratic Republic of Congo, and restrictions on technology neutrality that limit how flexibly existing spectrum holdings can be deployed.
None of this is unique to one country. Across the region, spectrum management decisions made years ago, often before 4G networks were a serious consideration, are still shaping what operators can and cannot afford to build today. High backhaul fees are simply the most direct and quantifiable example of a regulatory legacy that has not kept pace with network demand.
“Congo has a clear digital ambition, and this report sets out exactly what is needed to achieve it. The right reforms, on spectrum costs, mobile taxation, smartphone affordability and regulatory modernisation, could add close to FCFA 870 billion to Congo’s economy by 2030, bring 540,000 more people online, and grow tax revenues by FCFA 93 billion. The opportunity is significant, and mobile is at the heart of delivering it.”
-Angela Wamola, Head of Africa, GSMA
What closing the gap would actually buy
The case for reform is not abstract. The report’s own modelling found that extending 4G coverage in Congo from 86% to 97% of the population would require at least USD 30 million in additional investment under current conditions. With a package of policy reforms in place, including a reduction in backhaul spectrum fees, that figure falls to USD 10 million.
That is a threefold difference in what it costs to reach nearly the entire population, driven in large part by removing one fee that the data shows is already wildly out of line with regional norms.
– Caroline Mbugua, Senior Director, Public Policy & Communication, GSMA
The fix is not complicated
Unlike some of the deeper structural challenges facing the sector, such as energy costs or fibre permitting, this one has a relatively straightforward remedy. The report recommends a comprehensive spectrum management review that brings backhaul fees in line with what operators elsewhere on the continent are paying, alongside continued monitoring of cross-border interference and a clearer path to full technology neutrality.
Every percentage point of revenue that goes toward an overpriced backhaul fee is a percentage point that does not go toward a new rural site. Central African regulators do not need a new technology or a new subsidy mechanism to close part of the coverage gap. They need to stop charging operators a premium for connecting the people the national digital strategies say they want connected.
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