Angola prepares to issue first 5G licenses beginning of 2022

Angolan telecom sector regulator INACOM could issue the first 5G license by the end of the year, according to daily Expansao.

The award of the 3.3-3.7 GHz frequency band for developing 5G technology was approved last month by presidential order. The paper’s sources said a process for awarding the spectrum rights might be announced soon.

INACOM said in a release, “The slow advance of the Angolan industry may take advantage of the impulse of the new 5G technology to solve some technological barriers that prevent it from taking off.”

It added that “5G can give a boost to countries like ours, with a weak technological infrastructure and a bland industrial park based on manual processes, above all. With this opportunity, they say, we will leapfrog, leaving behind expensive technology deployments that 5G has already made obsolete. We gain time and advance faster.”

In addition, the frequency is aimed at the terrestrial mobile telephony service to make the electronic communications market more attractive to private investment.

According to Expansao, INACOM may announce this year the award of the first license for the use of this new technology, which will bring new opportunities for companies and better services for individuals.

According to the report, Unitel confirmed that it is ready to start operating with this technology. Unitel’s director of strategic planning, Eduardo Vieira, stated recently that “The conditions are in place to operate with 5G. “We will soon have news,” he guaranteed.”

It is worth mentioning that Africell also confirmed that it would start operating without 5G but only call with its chip in 2022. TeleGeography noted that the newcomer to the Angolan cellular market (Africell) intends to introduce its commercial services soon with ‘5G-ready’ infrastructure, upgradeable from 4G via software updates.