Comsol expands South Africa 5G home broadband network

Comsol, a South African fixed wireless connectivity and private network operator with almost 30 years of industry experience, is expanding into the residential broadband market as a wholesale 5G infrastructure provider

The expansion is supported by two new shareholders: Platform Investment Partners, which has invested in 10 founder-stage fibre businesses across four markets during the past decade, and privately owned investment firm Wimsey Capital.

The revised shareholder structure follows the departure of Nedbank Private Equity, part of Nedbank CIB, from its investment in Comsol. Convergence Partners, a significant and established investor in the company, is providing further growth funding alongside Solcon Capital. Comsol founder and CEO Iain Stevenson, through Mactavish Investments, continues to hold an interest and is contributing additional capital. RMB structured and provided a comprehensive funding package that facilitated the shareholder transaction and will finance Comsol’s planned strategic capital expenditure programme.

Through the new offering, South African internet service providers (ISPs), mobile virtual network operators (MVNOs) and other prospective partners can access a standalone 5G-Advanced* network designed specifically for fixed wireless access (FWA). Comsol owns and manages the infrastructure and provides it as a complete wholesale service, leaving partners responsible for their customer relationships and market strategies, including branding, pricing, product positioning and customer support.

More than one million Gauteng households covered

Comsol began deploying its network six months ago and has already reached more than one million households across Gauteng. The company plans to achieve comprehensive Gauteng coverage by March 2027, before extending the rollout into the Western Cape, KwaZulu-Natal and major regional centres during 2027 and 2028.

The operator plans to deploy approximately 2,000 base stations nationwide, creating one of South Africa’s largest standards-based and high-capacity 5G networks. The infrastructure will provide service providers with an additional wholesale connectivity option and greater access to network capacity. By introducing new infrastructure into the market, Comsol expects to strengthen competition and expand consumer choice.

"Comsol anticipates where the market is heading and builds ahead of demand,” said Stevenson. “This is why we were investing in licensed spectrum years before its strategic value was widely understood and building private 5G before the market had grasped what it would enable. We see 5G-Advanced for the home as a big growth opportunity.

"ICASA has allocated spectrum to network providers to expand broadband access and increase competition in the market. We believe the way to honour that mandate is to build wholesale infrastructure that extends high-speed broadband to new customer segments and creates a platform for more competition at the well-established service provider layer.”

Experienced investors support infrastructure expansion

Comsol anticipates where the market is heading and builds ahead of demand

Shaun Clark, CEO of Platform Investment Partners, said, “We have spent years investing in the construction of open-access digital infrastructure in South Africa, and were founding investors in assets such as DFA, Conduct, Vumatel and N99. Our approach has always been to identify trends in technology adoption and invest behind them. We see fixed wireless as an important part of the connectivity market. Comsol is a natural fit with our portfolio of digital infrastructure businesses, which are all centred around a neutral host model.”

“We see a significant opportunity in 5G fixed wireless access to bring high-quality connectivity to more South African households. Comsol has a multi-decade track record of successfully building and delivering advanced wireless networks in diverse contexts. We are excited to back the business and partner with the world-class Comsol team as they build and scale this next phase of growth,” stated Richard Ladbrook, director of Wimsey Capital. 

Andile Ngcaba, executive chairman of Convergence Partners and chairman of the Comsol board, said, “Comsol is well positioned as the world transitions from 5G to 6G. The depth of its spectrum and nationwide network presence across all provinces creates a significant opportunity to serve South Africa’s enterprise, private and public sectors. Comsol’s platform is equally relevant to urban and rural markets, and to companies of all sizes.”

For Nedbank Private Equity, the transaction marks the end of a nine-year investment in Comsol. Yougan Moodley of Nedbank Private Equity said: “We are proud to have supported the company's growth, network rollout and value creation journey alongside management and our co-shareholders. The transaction positions Comsol strongly for its next phase of growth.”

The case for 5G-Advanced residential broadband

Comsol’s wholesale 5G-Advanced service is intended to complement fibre infrastructure while extending the availability and choice of residential broadband. Around 15% of South African households currently have fibre connections, with deployments concentrated mainly in densely populated metropolitan areas where trenching economics are more favourable. A sizeable opportunity therefore remains in suburban and adjacent markets where 5G FWA can be deployed faster and at significantly lower infrastructure costs.

Comsol’s 5G-Advanced FWA network is designed to deliver the capacity needed for large-scale residential broadband deployments, potentially allowing entire towns to receive coverage within weeks.

Developments in regulation and technology have also improved the economics of 5G-Advanced FWA. Comsol secured its C-band spectrum licence from ICASA in 2022, giving investors greater certainty around network development. The spectrum allocation supports differentiated speed tiers and competitive consumer pricing. At the same time, falling costs for 5G chipsets and customer-premises equipment (CPE) are reducing entry costs for consumers and ISPs.

As a new wholesale 5G market participant, Comsol is also deploying a modern standalone 5G core without the constraints associated with legacy network technologies.

The company expects these characteristics to contribute to strong FWA growth over the next five years. ICASA figures indicate that FWA subscriptions increased by approximately 39% year on year in 2025.** BMIT forecasts that 5G could represent as much as 67% of residential FWA connections by 2029, compared with 35% in 2024.***

A purpose-built network architecture

Comsol’s infrastructure is among only two production standalone 5G cores currently operating in South Africa. Its architecture provides ultra-low latency and dedicated capacity management capabilities that are not available to the same extent in hybrid 4G/5G deployments. The network also offers approximately twice the uplink performance of conventional 5G mobile operator networks.

The company’s 5G-Advanced implementation is IMT-conformant and incorporates standards-based technologies designed to increase network capacity while reducing the cost per bit. The infrastructure has been engineered specifically for high-capacity residential 5G connectivity at scale.

Greater flexibility for wholesale partners

Comsol’s wholesale model is designed to keep the operator separate from its partners’ consumer-facing businesses. ISPs and other customers maintain control over their market strategies, including pricing, packaging, billing, branding and customer relationships.

Through its API-enabled platform, Comsol allows partners to launch branded 5G-Advanced FWA services within weeks while maintaining significant control over product development and customer engagement.

The network is also designed to help ISPs reach additional customer groups whose broadband requirements centre on applications such as streaming, video conferencing and smart-home services. Its API-driven architecture allows partners to create tailored packages for different segments and modify or introduce products within hours, giving them greater flexibility to respond to shifts in customer demand.