The Senegalese government bets on digital technologies to spur socio-economic development.  For that purpose, the country is multiplying initiatives and investments to generalize the use of ICT tools nationwide. 

National roaming is scheduled to become effective in Senegal next May 17. The project, which is one of the 10 priorities of the telecom regulator ARTP, was presented to media professionals by ARTP director Abdou Karim Sall on the sidelines of a forum held from May 5 to 7. 

The regulator announced its plan to implement a national roaming project to improve coverage in the country last April. It also indicated talks were already initiated with the telecom operators concerned. 

The Senegalese government's initiative to implement a national roaming project is in line with its efforts to hasten digital transformation and achieve the targets outlined in the strategic plan "Digital Senegal 2025," which is scheduled to end in two years. In March 2023, President Macky Sall urged the implementation of an emergency plan to speed up nationwide telecom coverage.

Once implemented, the national roaming initiative should allow a telecom subscriber access to telecom services in regions where his/her service provider has no infrastructure. The initiative entails operators mutualizing their infrastructure for improved mobile and internet coverage. According to the latest ARTP figures, the mobile penetration rate is now 117.73% in Senegal, against 92.29% for Internet penetration.  

This initiative is expected to increase competition in the Senegalese telecom market by offering consumers a wider choice of network providers. According to ARTP data, in 2021, Sonatel was controlling 56.44% of the telecom market, compared with 23.67% for Free and 18.39% for Expresso. The rest of the market is shared between universal service operator Hayo, which operates in the Matam region, and mobile virtual network operator Promobile.

Isaac K. Kassouwi