Evaluating the Techno-Economic Viability of Greenfield 5G in South Africa: A Comprehensive Comparison with 4G Networks

5G adoption in Africa has been slow due to the lack of a strong business case. Existing deployments in the region predominantly utilize 5G non-standalone architectures, leveraging legacy 4G infrastructure investments. However, this approach falls short in fully unlocking the full potential of 5G, often restricting its benefits to enhanced mobile broadband and lacking in latency and connection density. This study initiates an evaluation of the business case for implementing a new 5G network using total cost of ownership analysis (TCO) and payback period comparisons against a greenfield 4G network applied Johannesburg as a case study. The city of Johannesburg serves as a case study, offering insights into the potential of a 5G network rollout within this context.