Gabon ICT

In line with its peers around the continent, Gabon’s telecoms sector is well developed and competitive, with 4G coverage and an overall penetration rate in excess of 100%. The industry is due for a shake-up in the near term, however, with the upcoming acquisition of one of the country’s four mobile operators by a fellow competitor. The merger...

In line with the government’s Emerging Gabon Strategic Plan, the ICT sector is rapidly expanding into many different areas of local life, from taxation to education to health. With an estimated 1.1m internet subscriptions as of March 2016, of which around 1.08m subscriptions were with mobile internet providers, Gabon has one of the highest...

Already the most developed market in Central Africa, according to the International Telecommunications Union, the expansion of Gabon’s ICT sector is high on the government’s priority list for the coming years, as it continues to push for economic diversification and private sector development.

How has the advent of 4G and high-speed networks affected the local market?

Increasing demand for digital services and the commercialisation of access to Gabon’s second submarine cable are helping to lay the foundations for a rise in activity in the country’s ICT sector. Greater bandwidth – combined with mobile data coverage via 3G and 4G – is likely to boost the number of internet users in the country, but a push by the...

The launch of 3G and 4G in 2014 should provide new revenue streams for Gabon’s telecoms sector, crucially for the four operators that contend for market share among a population of just 1.7m. The expected consolidation of two of the operators should yield some structural changes in the sector, but the focus in the near term is set to be on improving...