Next year, 4G will be a reality in Ivory Coast. The good news was released by Ivorian minister for posts, communication and information technologies, Bruno Nabagne Koné on December 1, 2015 during the commissioning by Prime Minister Daniel Kablan Duncan of “Backbone Est” project for optic fiber network which connects Grand-Bassam to Bouna.

The reasons behind the launching of 4G as stated by Bruno Nabagne Koné are the increasing 3G data usage and the population’s ever-growing demand for a greater internet broadband for mobile applications, streaming, and value-added services.

With 24.7 million subscribers, mostly the youth, 3G which was launched in 2012 in the country is about to be saturated; an occurrence which might choke the network. 4G which is expected for Q1 2016 would relieve operators and satisfy users’ insatiable demand.

Though mobile telephony operators and data users look forward 4G’s arrival in Côte d’Ivoire, Internet Service Provider YooMee for its part feels its long-held monopoly threatened. Indeed, the group which was operating the technology since April 2014 will certainly see this monopoly crumble as Orange, MTN and Moov, fierce competitors, enter this market.