For years now, the Angolan telecom market has been dominated by Unitel, which mostly profited from the uncompetitiveness of Movicel which has been losing ground since 2019.  However, the introduction of new the entrant Africell (April 2022) in the market is changing the structure.

Africell is steadily growing in the Angolan telecom market at the expense of its two competitors, Unitel and Movicel. According to news agency Expansão, which based its estimates on the latest data from the Angolan Institute of Communications (INACOM), the company increased its market share from 15.5% in Q2 2022 to 21% in Q3. Over the same period, Unitel's share dropped from 78% to 73% while Movicel lost 0.5 points to 6%.

Africell began commercial operations in Angola in April 2022, ushering in a new era of competition in the fixed voice, mobile (2G, 3G, 4G), and data segments. Among other things, its entrance accelerated growth in the sector. Even Unitel acquired new subscribers, with its subscriber base rising by 2.8 million to 16.2 million. As of September 2022, Africell had 4.6 million subscribers.

The increased competition introduced by Africell aligns with the objectives that motivated the attribution of Angola's fourth telecom license in 2020. By issuing that license, Angolan authorities wanted to boost competition and innovation in key sectors of the economy (telecommunication included), to accelerate development.

Isaac K. Kassouwi