Gabon government commits XAF150 billion for infrastructure through to 2020Gabon remains one of the wealthiest nations in Africa in terms of GDP per capita, with the economy largely buttressed by oil revenue.
The telecom market was liberalised in 1999 when the government awarded three mobile telephony licences and two Internet Service Provider (ISP) licences and established an independent regulatory authority. Gabon Telecom was privatised in 2007 when Maroc Telecom bought a 51% stake in the operator. In June 2016 Maroc Telecom merged Gabon Telecom with Moov Gabon, thereby reducing the number of mobile network operators from four to three.
The 2009 entry of USAN (operated by Bintel Group under the brand name Azur) into a competitive market with high penetration triggered a price war that saw falling revenue and profits, forcing the operators to streamline their businesses and to look for new income streams. Following more than a year of delays, a licence to offer 3G mobile broadband services was awarded in late 2011. Azur failed to weather competition and ceased trading in late 2017, encumbered by debts and fined by the regulator for failing to observe its quality of service obligations.
Both Airtel Gabon and Gabon Telecom Mobile (Libertis) have launched LTE services in a bid to develop revenue from mobile broadband and data services.
In contrast with the mobile market, Gabon’s fixed-line and internet sectors have remained underdeveloped due to a lack of competition and high prices. The country has sufficient international bandwidth on the SAT-3/WASC/SAFE submarine cable but this facility is monopolised by Gabon Telecom. The arrival of the ACE submarine cable, combined with progressing work on the CAB cable, has increased backhaul capacity supporting mobile data traffic.
Key developments:
Gabon Telecom and Airtel Gabon renew mobile licences for ten years;
Government commits XAF150 billion in backbone infrastructure work through to 2020;
Universal service project gets underway, aiming to deliver telecom services to 2,700 villages;
Korea Telecom secures XAF6 billion contract to build two fibre segments as part of the Central African Backbone project;
New legal and regulatory framework comes into play;
Gabon Telecom reduces cost of connecting to its fibre network by up to 90%;
Maroc Telecom merges Gabon Telecom and Moov Gabon;
E-Gabon project launched to improve e-health services;
Axione contracted to extend and maintain national telecoms infrastructure;
MNOs register SIM cards to comply with new regulations;
Airtel Gabon opens submarine link between Libreville and Port-Gentil;
Report update includes the regulator’s market data to Q2 2018, operator data to Q3 2018, recent market developments.Companies mentioned in this report:Gabon Telecom (Maroc Telecom, Libertis); Bharti Airtel (Zain); Moov (Telecel Gabon); Bintel (USAN, Azur); Internet Gabon; Solsi; IBN Corporate.
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1. Key statistics
2. Telecommunications market
2.1 Market analysis
3. Regulatory environment
3.1 Historical overview
3.2 Regulatory authority
3.3 Telecom sector liberalisation
3.4 Interconnection
4. Fixed network operator
4.1 Gabon Telecom
5. Telecommunications infrastructure
5.1 Overview of the national telecom network
5.2 International infrastructure
5.2.1 Submarine
5.2.2 Terrestrial fibre
6. Fixed-line broadband market
6.1 Introduction and statistical overview
6.2 Market analysis
6.3 Broadband statistics
6.4 Fixed-line broadband technologies
6.4.1 Digital Subscriber Line (DSL) networks
6.4.2 Fibre-to-the-Premises (FttP)
6.4.3 Other fixed broadband services
7. Digitel economy
7.1 e-health
7.2 e-learning
8. Mobile market
8.1 Market analysis
8.2 Mobile statistics
8.3 Mobile data
8.3.1 SMS
8.4 Mobile broadband
8.5 Mobile infrastructure
8.5.1 4G (LTE)
8.5.2 3G
8.5.3 2G
8.5.4 Other infrastructure developments
8.6 Major mobile operators
8.6.1 Airtel Gabon (formerly Zain, Celtel)
8.6.2 Libertis (Gabon Telecom)
8.6.3 Moov (Télécel Gabon)
8.6.4 Azur (USAN, BinTel)
8.7 Mobile content and applications
8.7.1 Mobile payments
9. Related reportsList of Tables
Table 1 – Top Level Country Statistics and Telco Authorities - Gabon – 2018 (e)
Table 2 – Gabon Telecom fixed-line revenue (FCFA) – 2014 - 2018
Table 3 – Gabon Telecom fixed-line subscribers – 2014 - 2018
Table 4 – Historic - Fixed lines in service and teledensity – 1999 - 2009
Table 5 – Fixed lines in service and teledensity – 2010 - 2018
Table 6 – International bandwidth – 2002 - 2016
Table 7 –Market share of internet subscribers – 2013 - 2018
Table 8 – Fixed internet users and penetration – 2000 - 2018
Table 9 – Fixed-line and mobile internet subscribers and penetration rate – 2002 - 2018
Table 10 – Fixed-line broadband subscribers and penetration – 2003 - 2018
Table 11 – Gabon Telecom internet subscribers – 2007 - 2018
Table 12 – Historic - Mobile subscribers and penetration rate – 1999 - 2009
Table 13 – Mobile subscribers and penetration rate – 2010 - 2018
Table 14 – Mobile market share by operator – 2011 - 2018
Table 15 – Mobile market share by operator – 2011 – 2018
Table 16 –Mobile services revenue – 2010 - 2018
Table 17 –Mobile ARPU – 2014 - 2018
Table 18 – Mobile SMS sent – 2014 - 2018
Table 19 – Active mobile broadband subscribers – 2014 - 2018
Table 20 – Mobile broadband subscribers by operator – 2014 - 2018
Table 21 – Airtel Gabon subscribers – 2002 - 2018
Table 22 – Libertis subscribers – 2007 - 2018
Table 23 – Libertis mobile revenue – 2011 - 2014
Table 24 – Libertis annualised mobile ARPU – 2013 - 2015
Table 25 – Historic - Moov subscribers – 2010 - 2015
Table 26 – Historic - Moov mobile ARPU – 2014 - 2015
Table 27 – Azur subscribers – 2010 - 2017List of Charts
Chart 1 – Fixed lines in service and teledensity – 2005– 2018
Chart 2 – Fixed internet users and penetration – 2000 – 2018
Chart 3 – Mobile subscribers in Gabon – 2005 - 2018
