Senegal’s industry regulator L’Autorite de Regulation des Telecoms et des Postes (ARTP) has released its latest update on the country’s telecommunications market, highlighting that mobile operators Orange, Tigo and Expresso collectively added a net 319,507 new connections in 1Q15, for a total of 14.699 million. Of the total, an overwhelming 14.602 million are pre-paid users, with post-paid subscribers standing at 96,969 compared to 81,359 at end-March 2014. Cellular penetration – based on the ARTP’s calculation – stood at 108.81% at the end of the first quarter, up from 103.07% a year earlier, while Orange was the leading player with a market share of 56.85% (55.52% in 1Q14), ahead of Tigo with 23.34% (24.23%) and Expresso’s 19.81% (20.25%).
Turning to the fixed line segment, the ARTP reported a continued decline in the number of homes and businesses with a landline, with the total falling to 307,058 at end-March, down from 336.737 a year before. 76.9% of all fixed lines were residential connections at the start of April this year, with business lines accounting for 22.7% and public payphones the remaining 0.4%. Incumbent PTO Sonatel controlled the lion’s share of fixed lines in service at 31 March 2015, with 93.2%, having increased its stranglehold on the sector by six percentage points in the year under review, leaving the second operator Expresso with only 6.8%. Similarly, Sonatel dominates the fixed broadband (DSL) market with a 100% market share, although the ARTP noted that the total number of ADSL connections is declining – standing at 102,410 connections at 1Q15, from 108,577 twelve months earlier as users opt increasingly for 2.5G or 3G alternatives from one of the incumbent cellcos for their internet access needs. Indeed, at the end of March cellular internet accesses had climbed to 6.734 million, accounting for 94.2% of all connections, up from 90.8% a year before.