Comsol is entering South Africa’s home broadband market with a wholesale 5G-Advanced fixed wireless access offering.
The company said it aims to deploy around 2,000 5G-Advanced base stations across South Africa. It has been building the network for six months and says more than 1 million households in Gauteng are already covered.
Rollout targets and wholesale terms
Comsol is targeting full coverage of Gauteng by March 2027. It plans to expand into the Western Cape, KwaZulu-Natal, and major regional centres in 2027 and 2028.
The wholesale network will be sold to ISPs, wireless ISPs, MVNOs, and new market entrants. Comsol will own and operate the network, while customers control the subscriber relationship and go-to-market decisions, including branding, commercial terms, and support.
Spectrum and network position
Comsol says it holds South Africa’s largest contiguous 28 GHz spectrum position and 60 MHz in the 3.7 GHz band, which it acquired from ICASA in 2022. The company also says its standalone 5G-Advanced network is currently the only such network in South Africa.
Comsol says standalone 5G-Advanced offers ultra-low latency, dedicated capacity control, and about double the uplink performance of typical 5G networks. It says the network is designed for streaming, video calls, and smart-home use cases.
What this means for South African FWA buyers
ISPs and other wholesale buyers now have a disclosed 5G-Advanced FWA option with a stated ownership split: Comsol runs the network, and the buyer keeps the customer relationship and commercial control. That makes the announcement a pricing and product benchmark for operators weighing home broadband without building access infrastructure themselves.
Funding behind the rollout
Comsol says the wholesale home broadband push is backed by Platform Investment Partners and Wimsey Capital after Nedbank Private Equity exited. It also says Convergence Partners, Solcon Capital, and Stevenson are providing additional growth capital.
RMB arranged and provided the funding solution that enabled the shareholder transaction and will support Comsol’s strategic capex rollout plan.