Central African Republic: A new attempt to revive SOCATEL is estimated at USD 150 million
July 22nd 2026
Pioneers in telecommunications in many African countries, incumbent operators have gradually lost ground to private players. With the acceleration of digital transformation, several governments are now trying to revitalize them and turn them into assets.
The Central African government has announced the launch of the implementation of the memorandum of understanding signed in September 2025 with the American company Greenline Technologies for the takeover and transformation of SOCATEL. This operation represents a new step in the efforts undertaken by the authorities to revitalize the incumbent operator, which has been facing difficulties for several years.
This progress was the focus of a meeting held on Thursday, July 16, between the Minister of Digital Economy, Posts and Telecommunications, Roger Andjalandji (pictured, right), and Max Sicari (pictured, left), Vice President of Operations at Greenline Technologies. According to the government, this meeting marks the transition to an operational phase of the memorandum of understanding signed in Casablanca, on the sidelines of the Roundtable on Mobilizing Financing for the 2024-2028 National Development Plan (PND).
The partnership includes a planned investment of $150 million to modernize SOCATEL’s infrastructure and services, build a Tier 3 data center and deploy a nationwide connectivity ecosystem.
Reviving SOCATEL: a long-standing ambition
The partnership with Greenline Technologies is not the first initiative undertaken to try to revive SOCATEL. In November 2020, the Central African government signed an agreement with the French company Global Technologies to restore and modernize some of the operator’s historical infrastructure.
The project was intended to rehabilitate the public company’s old microwave network, built several decades earlier, to create a backup network to complement the fiber optic network. “This network will be considered a backup to the fiber optic network ,” explained Jean-Paul Steinitz, president of the Global Technologies group, in comments reported by RFI.
The initiative, however, required securing an estimated €20 million in funding before work could begin. Since this announcement, no detailed public communication has been made to assess the progress or concrete results of this partnership.
More recently, the Central African authorities had also mentioned cooperation with Russia to support the restructuring of the historical operator as part of a partnership envisaged in the digital field.
A prolonged deterioration of the situation
SOCATEL’s difficulties date back to the late 1990s and early 2000s, in a context marked by several political and security crises in the Central African Republic. The operator’s infrastructure was affected by these periods of instability, further weakening a company already facing significant financial constraints.
In 2005, the withdrawal of France Câbles Radio, a subsidiary of France Télécom, from the company’s capital to create Orange Centrafrique also marked a turning point for the historical operator, as the Central African telecom market was gradually opening up to private competition.
These difficulties were compounded by internal weaknesses related to the company’s governance and operations. The telecom operator’s management has faced regular criticism, with questions raised about its governance, social tensions, and the accumulation of outstanding payroll arrears.
A report on the performance of Central African public companies published in 2021 noted that SOCATEL was operating in a market transformed by the rise of mobile operators, while remaining mainly positioned on fixed telephony in Bangui.
The document described a vicious circle in which aging infrastructure and a lack of technical, human and financial resources limited the operator’s ability to generate revenue, while this financial weakness hampered the investments needed for its recovery.
Uncertainties surrounding SOCATEL’s new model
While the partnership with Greenline Technologies is presented as a new step in the revival of SOCATEL, several details still need to be finalized. The parties must finalize the definitive takeover agreements, establish a joint steering committee, and set up a deployment schedule.
At this stage, the available information does not allow us to determine the exact model chosen for the transformation of the incumbent operator, namely the structure of the operation, the distribution of responsibilities between the State and Greenline Technologies or the financing arrangements for the announced investments.
On the operational side, questions also remain about the future positioning of the incumbent operator. Announcements made so far mention infrastructure modernization and the deployment of a connectivity ecosystem, without specifying whether the incumbent operator intends to return to the mobile segment, now central to the Central African telecom market, or to focus more on fixed services, digital infrastructure, and solutions for businesses and government agencies.
Regardless of the model chosen, the state-owned company will have to find a viable position in a market already structured around established players such as Orange Central African Republic, Telecel, and Moov Africa. These operators have a subscriber base, infrastructure, and commercial experience accumulated over several years. The incumbent operator will also have to take into account the arrival of new connectivity solutions, such as satellite internet offered by companies like Starlink.
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