Niger has a population of 18.2 million and is served by 4 mobile network operators: Airtel (Bharti Airtel), Moov (Etisalat), SahelCom (Sonitel) and Orange. With 4.2 million mobile subscribers, penetration stands at 23.0%. Across the four mobile operators two are dominant:
Airtel had 1.9m subscribers at y/e 2013 (44.2% market share)
Orange had 1.4m subscribers at y/e 2013 (34.3% market share)
Moov had 0.6m subscribers at y/e 2013 (14.5% market share)
SahelCom 0.3m subscribers at y/e 2013 (7.0% market share)
-
Niger mobile operators
The Multisectoral Regulatory Authority or (ARM) is responsible for telecommunications within Niger. ARM have indicated an impending decree to harmonize infrastructure sharing (passive and active), but they are still in the process of ratification. The decree defines the rules and the principles of sharing telecommunication infrastructure. This aims to avoid duplication of infrastructure, allow easy deployment of telecommunications services and networks, promote competition and ensure compliance with essential requirements, namely the protection of the environment and report of urban planning and land use. According to MM (Mott MacDonald) analysis sharing between operators is low – ranging from 5% – 7% of their sites on other operators.
Mobile penetration is very low Niger – 23% at y/e 2013. In 2011 the Ministry of Communications announced that it wanted to establish 3G and invited firms to apply for the first two licences. However, to date, only Orange appears to have any 3G subscribers. According to the World Bank, the Government aims to have 72% of the population covered by mobile by 2015 – but it is not clear how it intends to achieve this.
ARM recently stated, in a study led by MM, that there is no program for LTE/4G licensing at the moment but operators are expressing their desire to roll out LTE for fixed broadband application (WLL). To date, there appears to be little activity with regard to LTE.
Sources: MM analysis, GSMA, TeleGeography, ARM
