Sierra Leone is working to launch its first 5G network, powered entirely by renewable energy, in the capital, with a nationwide rollout planned in the coming years.

The network was announced at the Digital Government Summit in Freetown by local telecommunications provider Zoodlabs, which is powering the project's first phase. The infrastructure is supported by CrossBoundary Energy, which supplies solar photovoltaic panels, battery storage, and backup generators to maintain 99.9% uptime.

Oliver Benham, Director of Operations for Telecom Solutions at CrossBoundary, which is providing financing for 5 of the towers to enable faster rollout, said the system provides telecom operators like Zoolabs with a "reliable, affordable, and cleaner way of powering their network that does not rely on utility energy or fossil fuels."

Broadband penetration in Sierra Leone currently stands at just 20.7%, according to industry estimates. The deployment of 5G infrastructure is expected to significantly increase internet access, particularly in urban areas such as Freetown.

Zoodlabs CEO David Kapkima stated that the technology will support not only faster internet speeds but also autonomous vehicles, smart cities, remote healthcare, and internet of things (IoT) applications.

Once realised, Sierra Leone would be among the first countries in Africa to implement 5G technology at scale using renewable energy sources, thereby strengthening the country’s digital infrastructure while minimising carbon emissions.

Sierra Leone, supported by the European Union (EU), is also introducing a results-based financing (RBF) mechanism to drive private sector investment in solar minigrids to electrify rural areas.

Under the RBF model, developers will receive grants upon achieving milestones such as connecting households to minigrids. These grants will cover the financing, construction, and operation of the grids, which are expected to serve 35,000 households.

As of January, the country’s Ministry of Energy had identified 703 potential minigrid sites using its national electrification database. Currently, over 100 solar minigrids, operated by private companies, are in use across Sierra Leone.

This past autumn, Sierra Leone began pushing mining companies to connect to a central electricity grid instead of relying on private diesel generation as part of a $10.9bn plan to expand its power capacity, Bloomberg reported at the time.