The government of Mauritania has opened an auction for three 4G licences, with a fourth concession being made available to a new entrant. While the 4G-only permits are expected to be picked up by the country’s three incumbent cellcos – Mauritel, Chinguitel and Mattel – the new licence covers 2G, 3G and 4G technologies in an effort to attract further competition to the market. Applications for the licences are being accepted until 5 December.
Mauritania was home to an estimated 3.9 million cellular subscribers at the end of June 2018. The incumbent trio of operators have come in for criticism from the regulator for their failure to provide consistent quality of service (QoS) levels, and all three firms have been fined on more than one occasion for falling below minimum QoS requirements.