Burkina Faso: a new boycott campaign announced against telecom operators
July 23rd 2023
Last April, Burkinabè telecom users led a protest against operators and their services deemed too expensive. About three months later, consumers are not seeing major differences despite commitments from telecom companies.
From August 8, telecommunications consumers will start a new campaign of protest against the Burkinabé mobile telephone operators Moov Africa, Orange and Telecel. This was announced by the platform of associations for the defense of human rights in Burkina Faso during a press conference on Thursday 20 July.
“ We are starting the present campaign with the Moov Africa group, on Tuesday August 8, 2023, will follow in order one week after the boycott of the Orange group, on Tuesday August 15, and finally the Telecel group, on Tuesday August 22, “explained Joseph Ouédraogo (photo, center), president of the Conference of the Platform of Human Rights Defense Associations . As a sign of protest, subscribers are called upon to disconnect from the mobile network for 5 hours, from 7 a.m. to 12 p.m.
The new wave of protests is presented as the second act of an operation called “Wind of salvation” started in mid-April to denounce the high cost of services provided by Burkinabè telecom operators. At the instigation of the Communications and Postal Regulatory Authority (ARCEP), telecom companies have made commitments to meet consumer concerns.
In particular, they decided to increase the volume of traditional Internet packages by 10%, to improve the customer experience, to reorganize their offers in order to ensure better readability, to improve customer assistance. However, the protesters consider these initiatives as “small steps, sufficiently below our expectations” .
Thanks to this new mood swing, telecom consumers hope to achieve a reduction in the cost of services and an improvement in their quality. Affordable costs and improved offers should in particular accelerate the use and adoption of the Internet in Burkina Faso. According to ARCEP data, the Internet penetration rate was 65.38% in the second quarter of 2022. That of mobile telephony was 111.69%.
Source: Agence Ecofin Back