Africa is falling “dangerously” behind the rest of the world in the adoption of WiFi technologies, with nearly half of the continent's internet users still relying on the ageing WiFi 4 standard, while developed markets increasingly transition to WiFi 6 and WiFi 7.
This is according to Ookla's Global State of WiFi 2026 report, which analysed speed test data from Android devices worldwide and found a widening gap between Africa and leading global markets.
The firm used these devices to track the prevalence of different WiFi generations (WiFi 4 through WiFi 7), the spectrum bands being used (2.4GHz, 5GHz and 6GHz), and the installed base of customer premises equipment connected to those devices.
While WiFi 6 has become firmly established across much of the world, Africa remains heavily dependent on legacy wireless technologies that were introduced more than a decade ago, the report finds.
While countries such as South Korea, Japan, Singapore and the US are rapidly migrating toward WiFi 6 and WiFi 7, Africa remains largely anchored on WiFi 4.
SA remains one of the continent's most advanced broadband markets, yet the country is struggling to gain traction with the latest WiFi technologies, states Ookla.
The report notes: “WiFi 4 – a standard finalised back in 2009 – still accounted for 48.8% of Africa's WiFi samples in the first quarter, with WiFi 5 a fast riser at 34.4%, up from 19.9% four years earlier. WiFi 6 climbed from 1.6% to 16.8% over the same period, while WiFi 7 barely registered at 0.1%.”
Ookla's findings show a divide between advanced broadband markets and developing regions when it comes to next-generation WiFi adoption.
By comparison, WiFi 6 has already captured 27% of the global market, up from just 6% in 2022.
“WiFi 7 has also begun establishing a foothold globally, accounting for nearly 2% of worldwide connections. Meanwhile, older WiFi 4 and WiFi 5 technologies continue to decline globally, falling to 34% and 39%, respectively,” says Ookla.
The strongest uptake of WiFi 6 and WiFi 7 is concentrated in technologically-mature markets such as the US, Canada, South Korea, Japan, Singapore and several Western European countries, where fibre broadband penetration is high and consumers upgrade smartphones, routers and home networking equipment more frequently, according to the report.
“These markets have also moved more aggressively to open up the 6GHz spectrum needed to support WiFi 6E and WiFi 7 services, helping accelerate adoption of newer wireless technologies.”
WiFi 7, the next evolution of the WiFi network protocol, promises to be a substantial upgrade over its predecessor – surpassing the speeds of Ethernet cables, and significantly improving connection reliability and latency over WiFi 6.
While SA’s market is still in the early stages of migration to next-generation wireless technologies, research firm 6Wresearch forecasts strong growth in SA’s WiFi 6 and WiFi 6E ecosystem over the next few years, driven by increasing demand for high-speed connectivity, fibre expansion and growing use of connected devices.
Legacy spectrum dependency
The report also highlights Africa's continued dependence on older wireless spectrum bands.
The congested 2.4GHz band remains the dominant carrier of internet traffic across Africa, accounting for 52.4% of all WiFi samples during the first quarter of 2026.
Although this represents a significant improvement from the 76.4% share recorded in 2022, the continent still lags behind regions where users have largely migrated to higher-capacity spectrum, the report states.
The 5GHz band has expanded rapidly across Africa, growing from 23.6% of samples in 2022 to 47.6% in 2026. However, the newer 6GHz spectrum, which is critical to unlocking the full capabilities of WiFi 6E and WiFi 7, remains virtually non-existent across the continent.
"The congested 2.4GHz band remained the continent's majority carrier at 52.4%, down from 76.4% in 2022, with the 5GHz band the chief beneficiary, rising from 23.6% to 47.6%."
One of the starkest findings in the report is Africa's complete absence from the global shift towards 6GHz WiFi.
Across the continent as a whole, the 6GHz band accounted for a flat 0.0% share of WiFi samples during the first quarter of 2026. South Africa was the only market to record any meaningful activity on the band, but even then usage reached just 0.2%.
The report states: “Just 0.2% of WiFi connections in South Africa ran over the 6GHz band in the first quarter of 2026. In a market where households keep routers and handsets for years, and where service providers have been slow to bundle 6GHz-capable customer premises equipment, an allocation on paper turns into real-world use only gradually."
According to forecasts from Grand View Research, SA’s demand for WiFi 6 and WiFi 6E technologies is expected to accelerate sharply over the remainder of the decade, driven by enterprise digital transformation, smart-home deployments and increasing bandwidth requirements.
Device readiness
The Ookla report suggests that consumer devices are no longer the primary barrier to WiFi upgrades globally and in SA.
According to Ookla, 61.4% of Android devices sampled worldwide already support WiFi 6 or newer technologies. This indicates that many markets now possess the device ecosystem needed to support more advanced wireless networks.
“However, Africa faces a different reality. The continent's slower replacement cycle for smartphones and routers, combined with high equipment costs, and slower deployment of advanced customer premises equipment, continues to delay migration to newer standards,” notes the report.
Other obstacles include regulatory and spectrum availability constraints, as a result of the full 6GHz spectrum still being debated by the Independent Communications Authority of South Africa and local telecoms operators.
Widening connectivity gap
The Ookla findings suggest Africa risks falling further behind as the rest of the world accelerates toward WiFi 6, WiFi 6E and WiFi 7.
While the continent has made notable progress by shifting traffic from the overcrowded 2.4GHz spectrum to the more capable 5GHz band, the overwhelming dominance of WiFi 4 and the near absence of 6GHz adoption highlight the scale of the challenge ahead.
While SA can function without widespread WiFi 6 and WiFi 7 adoption, there are significant economic, technological and competitiveness consequences if the country falls too far behind.
“These include reduced return on fibre investments, challenges supporting artificial intelligence and data-intensive applications, lower business competitiveness, persistent network congestion, slower smart city and internet of things development.”
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