From today 27 March 2020, Angola will enter a lockdown to prevent the spread of the coronavirus in the country. To this end, the Ministry of Telecommunications and Information Technology has set a sectorial emergency plan to guarantee a minimum provision of voice, messaging, Internet, postal and meteorological services to citizens, and public and private entities.

This plan is part of the “Provisional Presidential Legislative Decree No. 1/20 of 18 March and in close coordination with public and private operators and service providers,” according to the ICT Ministry. Under this strategy, telecom operators will provide a free monthly bundle per subscriber. The bundle includes 45 minutes of voice calls and 30 free messages (SMS), access to electronic public services, the Ministry of Health portal and government portals, as well as 200 MB for data.

The Angolan Institute of Communications, the regulator of the ICT and telecom market, has been given the responsibility of monitoring and controlling compliance with these measures to ensure the continuity and stability of telecom services.