The Democratic Republic of Congo can draw inspiration from the Nigerian model to accelerate digital development. This is what the Global Association of Mobile Phone Operators (GSMA) recommends. The organization addressed this priority issue for the Congolese government with the main players in the country’s digital sector, during a round table organized as part of the Mobile World Congress (MWC) 2025 held in Barcelona, ​​Spain, from Monday 3 to Thursday 6 March.

Participants included Augustin Kibassa Maliba (photo), the Congolese Minister of Posts, Telecommunications and Digital Affairs, the telecoms regulator, the coordinator of the Digital Agency and representatives of telecoms operators. The GSMA notably identified a number of points that constituted the fundamental difficulties for the development of digital technology, including the security of infrastructure. It also highlighted the absence of a roadmap for the Congolese digital sector.

”  The difficulties in the DRC remain the problem of financing. Taxation. There is a hard cost between the sector and the Ministry of Finance. We need the general states of the sector which will allow us to bring in the financial services so that they understand what is done elsewhere. There are examples from elsewhere that we can duplicate and which will allow us to move forward, ” the minister said.

While the GSMA does not provide further details on the Nigerian model of digital development, the organization, in its report “The role of mobile technology in driving the digital economy in Nigeria”, recommends that the West African country seek a partnership between mobile service providers and the government to support the country’s growth.

On the one hand, operators are called upon to continuously invest in high-capacity communications infrastructure, including 4G and 5G networks and fiber optic cable infrastructure, develop and participate in public-private partnerships on digital public services and application programs, design and implement digital applications to support private sector development and economic formalization, and finally provide improved service quality and user experience.

On the other hand, the government needs to make some policy changes, including implementing legislation on critical national infrastructure, simplifying and improving the billing and right-of-way administration process, simplifying and reducing taxation on the mobile sector, adapting the regulatory environment to encourage sustainable investment, for the benefit of customers, the government and the economy in general.

The Nigerian government is also recommended to expand digital access by strengthening people’s digital skills, reducing costs and encouraging local production of connected devices. It is also necessary to strengthen cybersecurity and data protection, accelerate the digitalization of payments and digital identification, while digitizing key sectors to foster inclusive and sustainable digital transformation.

At present, the DRC has an Internet penetration rate of 32%, compared to 35% for mobile telephony, according to data provided by Mr. Kibassa Maliba. According to the International Telecommunications Union (ITU), 2G, 3G and 4G networks covered 75%, 55% and 45% of the population respectively in 2023. The organization also gave the country a score of 31 out of 100 for ICT development, ranking 41st out of 47 African nations. For e-government development, the United Nations ranks it 179th out of 193 with a score of 0.2715 out of 1. In the infrastructure component, the country had a score of 0.1591.

Nigeria, for its part, has 169.3 million mobile phone subscriptions and 136.5 million internet subscriptions out of 216 million inhabitants, according to the latest official statistics. 2G, 3G, 4G and 5G networks covered 94.1%, 89.4%, 84.2% and 11.8% of Nigerians respectively in 2023, according to the ITU. The organization also gave the country a score of 46.9 out of 100 for ICT development, which ranks 26th on the continent. Finally, for e-government development, the country has a score of 0.4815 out of 1, ranking 144th in Africa. For the infrastructure component, it had a score of 0.4836 out of 1.

It should be recalled, however, that the terms of the partnership between the GSMA and the DRC are not known. However, the organization presented data that must be validated by the Congolese party in order to identify existing obstacles in the sector. For his part, Mr. Kibassa Maliba committed to defining areas for improvement and ensuring that the measures taken go in the right direction.

Source: Agency EcoFin