Executive summary
Gambia’s National Broadband Network facing financial hurdlesGambia’s telecom market is dominated by the incumbent telco Gamtel, which retains a monopoly on fixed-line telephony services. There are four mobile networks providing effective competition. The market’s leader is Africell, with about 65% market share, while Comium and QCell compete closely for second and third place. Gamtel’s mobile unit Gamcel is by far the smallest operator, with about 10% share. Mobile penetration is well above the African average, itself a testament to the poor condition of the fixed-line infrastructure and the lack of availability of fixed services in many rural areas of the country.
Although the incumbent has a relatively well-developed national fibre backbone network, low fixed-line penetration has hindered internet usage. There are only three licensed ISPs, which are small operators serving local areas, and so competition is minimal. The government has embarked on a National Broadband Network program aimed at closing the digital divide affecting many parts of the country, though in mid-2018 the terms of a loan required to continue work on the network were rejected by Parliament.
Key developments:
Africell launches LTE services, competing with QCell;
Gamtel takes control of international gateway;
QCell launched its Qodoo Mobile Money service, follows with LTE;
Gamtel reports further declines in revenue;
Legislation prepared to create a new National ICT Agency;
Government launches National Broadband Network project;
International Network Management Center (IINMC) opens, facilitating traffic on ACE cable;
Africell contracts Alepo for Data Solutions;
Gamtel contracts Huawei for fibre backbone project;
Report update includes Gamtel financial data, ITU data for 2017, recent market developments.Companies mentioned in this report:Gambia Telecommunications (Gamtel), Gamcel, Africell, Comium, QCell, Globacom, Thuraya, GamNet, QuantumNet, Netpage, Airtip.
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1. Executive summary
2. Key statistics
3. Country overview
4. Telecommunications market
4.1 Historical overview
5. Regulatory environment
5.1 National Communications and Information Policy (NACIP)
5.2 Regulatory authority
5.3 2009 ICT Act
5.4 Interconnection
5.5 Universal Access Fund (UAF)
5.6 Telecom sector liberalisation
5.7 Privatisation
6. Fixed network operator
6.1 Gambia Telecommunications (Gamtel)
7. Telecommunications infrastructure
7.1 Overview of the national telecom network
7.2 International infrastructure
7.2.1 Submarine fibre
7.2.2 Satellite
8. Fixed-line broadband market
8.1 Introduction and statistical overview
8.2 Market analysis
8.3 Broadband statistics
8.4 Internet Exchange Point (IXP)
8.5 Fixed-line broadband technologies
8.5.1 Digital Subscriber Line (DSL) networks
8.5.2 Fibre-to-the-Premises (FttP) networks
8.5.3 Other fixed broadband services
9. Digital economy
9.1 e-government
10. Mobile market
10.1 Market analysis
10.1.1 Mobile statistics
10.2 Mobile data
10.2.1 SMS and MMS
10.3 Mobile broadband
10.4 Regulatory issues
10.4.1 SIM card registration
10.5 Mobile infrastructure
10.5.1 4G (LTE)
10.5.2 3G
10.6 Major mobile operators
10.6.1 Gamcel
10.6.2 Africell
10.6.3 Comium
10.6.4 QCell
10.7 Mobile content and applications
10.7.1 M-banking
11. Related reports
Table 1 – Top Level Country Statistics and Telco Authorities – Gambia – 2018 (e)
Table 2 – Gamtel financial data – 2012 – 2014
Table 3 – Historic - Fixed lines in service and teledensity in Gambia – 1999 - 2009
Table 4 – Fixed lines in service and teledensity in Gambia – 2010 - 2018
Table 5 – International internet bandwidth – 2002 - 2016
Table 6 – Historic - Internet users and penetration rate in Gambia – 1999 - 2009
Table 7 – Internet users and penetration rate in Gambia – 2010 - 2018
Table 8 – Fixed-line broadband subscribers – 2004 - 2018
Table 9 – Historic - Mobile subscribers and penetration rate in Gambia – 1999 - 2009
Table 10 – Mobile subscribers and penetration rate in Gambia – 2010 - 2018
Table 11 – Mobile broadband subscribers and penetration in Gambia – 2009 - 2018
Table 12 – Gamcel mobile subscribers – 2012 - 2018
Table 13 – Africell mobile subscribers – 2013 - 2018
Table 14 – Comium mobile subscribers – 2012 - 2018
Table 15 – QCell mobile subscribers – 2012 - 2018
Chart 1 – Fixed lines in service and teledensity in Gambia – 2005 – 2018
Chart 2 – Internet users and penetration rate in Gambia – 2005 – 2018
Chart 3 – Mobile subscribers and penetration rate in Gambia – 2005 - 2018
Chart 4 – Mobile broadband subscribers and penetration in Gambia – 2009 – 2018
Exhibit 1 – Map of Gambia
