TowerXchange understands that towers in Senegal, Mali, Guinea Conakry and Guinea Bissau are all on the market. The operations are all affiliates of Sonatel Group, which in turn is 42.33% owned by Orange, and all trade under the Orange brand.
The GSMA reports mobile penetration in Senegal at 85%, ARTP has it in the mid-90’s and BuddeComm has penetration at 100%. The GSMA reports that there were 2,900 cell sites in Senegal in March 2013, representing 85.3% coverage, up from 2,450 the previous year and forecast to rise to 3,250 sites next year. 2,050 of Senegal’s towers are on-grid, with 850 off-grid, of which 485 run DG 24x7, 150 are CDC-hybrids and 215 incorporate renewables. Orange-Sonatel are believed to have around 1,600 towers in Senegal.
Senegal’s electricity grid is not extensive, and rural electrification is at 22% with frequent outages, with the vast majority of cell sites receiving power for less than six hours per day. The economy remains somewhat dependent on diesel power, but the prices are kept relatively low by subsidies.
All the towers in Senegal currently remain operator-captive.
