For years, discussions around 5G in Africa have focused on speed, coverage, and capacity. Faster downloads, lower latency, and more connected devices have dominated the narrative. While these improvements matter, they alone will not shift Africa's role in the global digital economy.
The real opportunity lies not just in faster networks, but in programmable networks . By exposing 5G network capabilities through application programming interfaces APIs, telecom operators can transform their infrastructure into innovation platforms. This opens a pathway for African developers to move from adapting global solutions to creating locally built, globally relevant products .
In this TechTalkThursday article, we look at how "monetizing the network edge" through 5G APIs is enabling African developers to build on network capabilities such as quality of service, location intelligence, authentication, and billing. We explore the practical use cases, industry examples, and the steps operators, regulators, and ecosystems need to take to make this shift a reality.
