Burkina launches licence tender for fixed and wireless services, including 3G
Wednesday, August 4th, 2010
Burkina Faso’s telecommunications regulator, ARCE, has launched today a tender for the award of a 10-year fixed and wireless licence, including 3G, covering the whole country. Interested parties can consult the tender document free of charge or obtain a copy from the regulator for about $ 600. The submissions’ deadline is October 19th.
It’s worth mentioning that Burkina Faso has already a competitive mobile market with the presence of three telecommunications operators, Onatel, Zain and Telecel. According to Dataxis, Onatel, the subsidiary of Maroc Telecom, is the leading mobile operator in the country with market share of 43% and subscriber base of 1, 82 million by the end of March 2010. The direct competitor of Onatel is Zain Burkina Faso, Airtel in the future, which has an estimated market share of 39% at the end of the first quarter 2010.
The rest of the market share (18%) is attributed to the third mobile operator, Telecel Faso, which become under the control of Planor Group since they won the lawsuit against Atlantic and Etisalat in 2008.