Although the mobile penetration rate is very high in Gabon, the telecom coverage rate, meanwhile, remains to be improved. A challenge that Moov Africa Gabon Telecom wants to take up with regard to its impact on both its finances and national growth.

The mobile telephone operator Moov Africa Gabon Telecom announced, Friday July 16, an investment of more than 10 billion FCFA (17.9 million USD) for the strengthening of its telecoms network in the country from 2021 to 2022. The program d investment unveiled by Abderrahim Koumaa, CEO of the telecoms company, and Lin Mombo, president of the Regulatory Council of the Electronic Communications and Postal Regulatory Authority (Arcep), targets 141 villages and 600 km of axes road. It will bring broadband to populations and further reduce the digital divide between urban and rural areas.

In its latest report on the state of the mobile market, the telecoms regulator attributed to Gabon a mobile penetration rate of 171.34% on a subscriber base estimated at 3,088,742. This means that the number of active SIM cards in the country greatly exceeded the size of the Gabonese population. It is estimated at 1,802,728 inhabitants in accordance with the decision n ° 291 / CC of November 26, 2014 of the Constitutional Court relating to the request of the Prime Minister for the purposes of homologation of the results of the General Population and Housing Census of 2013. However, this does not mean that all Gabonese have easy access to telecom services throughout the national territory. The coverage rate of telecom services remains a challenge for telecom companies.

The investment announced by Moov Africa Gabon Telecom in its telecoms network is in line with the ambitions of the Gabonese government’s 2021-2023 transformation acceleration plan (PAT), which wants to make telecommunications and digital growth engines. The Gabonese state estimates that by providing all Gabonese with 3G and 4G, whose respective penetration rates are 73% and 35%, it is the country that will benefit from renewed growth through access. of more people to the benefits of the Internet (digital public services, e-commerce, mobile payment, e-health, etc.).

For Moov Africa Gabon Telecom, this improvement in access to its network in more villages and on the roads will guarantee it to register new customers who will also ensure growth in its revenues in a context where demand for connectivity and in payment services is growing. 

Source: Agence Ecofin