South Africa’s leading telco MTN has started locking users of Fixed Wireless service with older 4G routers to the device. The news has shared by Afrihost, a prominent ISP that resells MTN FWA products.
“As of 1 January 2026, MTN implemented a new rule. SIM cards used in 4G routers that are four years or older have been permanently linked to their current device,” Afrihost said in a notice.
“This means that if your SIM card is lost or damaged and requires replacement, your existing 4G router will no longer be able to reconnect to the MTN network using a new SIM.”
What this means is that, according to Afrihost, if customers of FWA need a SIM or router replacement in the future, they need to buy a new SIM and a new router. The idea here is that the company seeks to encourage users to replace their old router with a new one that ensures better consistency, reliability, and improved overall performance.
5G router is the new choice
Afrihost stresses that a switch to 5G routers is the way forward, stating clear advantages of 5G and 5G routers over their 4G counterparts. A 5G router not only offers significant coverage but also supports more device connections simultaneously, and overall, it’s a big improvement. The company also says that no 5G coverage is required to use a 5G router. The gist is that it provides better consistency, higher signal range, and reliable service compared to the 4G routers.
MTN said that interested customers need to contact Afrihost, as it supplies and supports the routers distributed to the customers.
And regarding the locked state ofthe SIM to the old 4G/LTE router, in case the router is damaged or lost, the SIM won’t be reused. The end-customers need to buy both a SIM card and a new router to use MTN’s FWA service.
It’s worth noting that MTN has stopped selling fixed 4G/LTE products through ISPs and now operates a network optimization algorithm to optimize its 4G network. Going further, the company will continue to sell Home Internet services in 4G and 5G coverage areas and says that the service includes 5G routers regardless of the coverage.