The Senegalese authorities are increasing investments to improve the quality and coverage of telecoms services in the country. Last April, Senegal obtained $150 million in funding from the World Bank to accelerate its digital transformation.
The Senegalese government is working with its partners to implement a program called “Universal Digital Access” which aims to improve connectivity in border areas. Worth $100 million, the project was unveiled by President Macky Sall (photo) last week in Kaffrine, as part of an economic tour he made in certain regions of Senegal.
This program is part of the Senegalese government’s actions to improve the quality and coverage of telecommunications services throughout the country in order to accelerate digital transformation. Last March, President Macky Sall instructed the implementation of an Emergency Plan to accelerate the full coverage of the national territory in mobile telephone networks.
Senegal recently committed to collaborating with Mauritania on the coordination and sharing of telecom frequencies, as well as on the management of interference and involuntary roaming at their borders. Other initiatives include the launch of national mobile roaming between telecom operators; connection to Meta’s 2Africa submarine fiber optic cable; obtaining funding of 150 million USD from the World Bank for digital projects…
President Sall indicates that the “Universal Digital Access” program will provide relief to more than 200 localities. It should also make it possible to provide quality services to thousands of people previously excluded or poorly covered by telecoms services.
According to statistics from the Senegal Telecommunications and Postal Regulatory Authority (ARTP), the country had 21.9 million subscriptions to mobile telephone services at the end of the second quarter of 2023 (April-June). While this represents a fairly high penetration rate (123.54%), the actual numbers should be lower as some people have multiple SIM cards.