The Angolan telecom market has long been dominated by Unitel. The company has benefited in particular from the weak competition from the telecom operator Movicel, which has been losing momentum since 2019. The entry of Africell, which occurred in April 2022, is changing the structure of the market.
Africell Angola continues to grow in the Angolan telecommunications market at the expense of its competitors Unitel and Movicel. According to estimates by the Expansão news agency, based on the latest data from the Angolan Institute of Communications (INACOM), the company fell from 15.5% market share in the 2nd quarter of 2022 to 21% in the third quarter. . Over the same period, Unitel went from 78% to 73% while Movicel lost 0.5 points to end up at 6%.
It was in April 2022 that Africell started its commercial activities in Angola, opening a new era of competition in the fixed voice, mobile (2G, 3G, 4G) and data segments. This has notably accelerated the growth of the sector. The mobile services subscriber base grew by 49% between the third quarter of 2021 and the same period of 2022, rising from 14.8 million to 22.1 million. Africell had 4.6 million subscribers in September 2022 while Unitel acquired 2.8 million new ones to reach 16.2 million.
The impact Africell is having on the Angolan telecoms sector is actually one of the goals the Angolan government aimed for when it awarded it the country’s fourth telecoms license in May 2020. Luanda wanted to accommodate more competition and innovation in key sectors of the economy, including telecommunications, to accelerate their development.