Burundi’s regulator expects commercial 5G launch in July 2024

Burundi’s Telecommunications Regulation and Control Agency (ARCT) has earmarked July 2024 as a target for the launch of commercial 5G in the market.

In its recently published roadmap for 5G development, ARCT highlighted the importance of ensuring adequate amounts of spectrum can be made available within the correct parameters to enable smoother 5G deployment.

To this end, the regulator plans to make a continuous band of 60MHz-100MHz available in the sub-6GHz bands, as well as a minimum of 800MHz of mmWave spectrum above 6GHz. In December 2023, ARCT will release spectrum in the 700MHz, 2.3GHz, 2.5GHz, 3.5GHz and 26GHz bands ahead of authorising 5G testing in January 2024.

In its roadmap, ARCT refers to a possible auction process without confirming details, stating: “Depending on the availability of the spectrum and the needs of the market, the ARCT may set up a mechanism [auction] for selecting candidates for the use of the spectrum predefined in advance.” The regulator will also commence a public awareness campaign in August 2023 to explain the benefits that 5G can deliver.