Togo Cellulaire (Togocel), a unit of state owned Togocom Holding, aims to launch a 4G LTE mobile network in the capital, Lome, by the end of April 2018, according to the firm’s managing director Affoh Atcha-Dedji. In an interview with Afreepress, the Togocel official also noted that the local market is undergoing a major transformation into a more open and competitive sector. These changes include the recent licensing of GVA (Group Vivendi Africa), which was granted an internet access provider licence by the Ministry of Posts and Digital Economy in June 2017, and which – under the terms of its licence – is mandated to launch before the end of March 2018. It is understood GVA plans to deploy a fibre-to-the-home (FTTH) network in several neighbourhoods of Lome to offer an affordable broadband option to homes and businesses there.
Meanwhile, TEOLIS – which was also awarded a licence last year – officially launched on 22 February this year, with plans to extend its footprint countrywide in the second half of the year. Currently, the newcomer’s high speed data services are limited to the capital and its environs, offering enterprise customers a choice of two packages under the ‘Business’ and ‘Smart Pro’ banners, but from 2H18 it intends to blanket Togo and simultaneously launch consumer (residential) offers on its network. TEOLIS’ network is centred around LTE-based fixed-wireless and mobile technology supplied by RADWIN – a wireless broadband manufacturer specialising in wireless point-to-point, wireless point-to-multipoint and wireless mobility solutions.