Vodacom brought business leaders, energy specialists and policymakers to Vodaworld in Midrand on Wednesday for a discussion on decarbonising Africa’s ICT sector, drawing on the group’s white paper of the same name. Group chief technology officer Dejan Kastelic opened the session, which moved quickly past telecommunications into the harder questions of financing, grid capacity and who carries the cost of South Africa’s energy transition.
The sector arrived with a reasonable case. Mobile network operators globally reduced operational emissions by 13% between 2019 and 2024 while connections grew 10% and data traffic increased more than fourfold, suggesting that digital growth need not track emissions growth. Vodacom’s own position is stronger still. The group reports scope 1 and 2 market-based emissions down 77% since the 2020 financial year, having matched all grid electricity purchased with renewable sources in the past year, reducing scope 2 market-based emissions to close to zero across most operations.
Scaling that across the continent is the harder problem. Roughly 600 million people in sub-Saharan Africa remain without electricity access, and where the grid is weak or absent, diesel generators still keep base stations running at considerable financial and environmental cost. Solar, wind and battery installations at tower sites are displacing that dependence, but capital expenditure limits the pace at which operators can deploy them.
| Measure | Figure |
|---|---|
| Global MNO operational emissions, 2019–2024 | Down 13% |
| Global mobile connections, same period | Up 10% |
| Global data traffic, same period | More than fourfold increase |
| Vodacom scope 1 and 2 market-based emissions since FY2020 | Down 77% |
| Grid electricity matched with renewables, past financial year | 100% |
| People in sub-Saharan Africa without electricity access | About 600 million |
| Transmission line built in South Africa, 2025/26 | 270.8km against a 423km target |
| Capital required for 14,500km of transmission | R440bn |
| Municipal debt owed to Eskom | R119bn |
That constraint has driven interest in opex-based structures such as Solar-as-a-Service, under which a third party finances, owns and operates the energy assets while the customer buys the energy as a service. The model shifts capital off the corporate balance sheet and accelerates deployment.
The larger opportunity discussed was operators acting as anchor offtakers for decentralised generation. Mobile networks have extensive footprints and predictable load profiles, which improves the bankability of mini-grids and other distributed projects that would otherwise struggle to attract private capital. On that reading, telecommunications investment becomes a route to broader energy access rather than simply a way to power towers.
The discussion also cautioned against reading more than a year without load shedding as a solved problem. Improved Eskom performance is only part of the explanation, alongside subdued electricity demand and substantial private investment in renewable generation. The constraint is shifting from generation to transmission, grid capacity, storage and flexible supply. The National Transmission Company built 270.8km of line in 2025/26 against a target of 423km, and needs R440bn to deliver the 14,500km set out in the transmission development plan.
The most uncomfortable issue raised was the prospect of a two-tier energy system. As businesses and wealthier households install solar, batteries and backup generation, the public system risks losing the customers best able to fund it, leaving a shrinking base to carry the cost of maintaining infrastructure for those who cannot afford to leave. Municipal debt owed to Eskom already stands at R119bn.
On the just transition, the point made was that coal has shaped entire regional economies in Mpumalanga, and that communities cannot be moved away from an industry before alternatives exist. Countries that have managed transitions well engaged stakeholders early rather than after disruption began.
The closing observation was about execution. South Africa does not lack frameworks or forums. What it lacks is the institutional capacity to implement them, which suggests a role for the private sector in building regulatory and technical capability rather than only financing assets.