Burkina Faso - Telecoms, Mobile and Broadband - Statistics and Analyses

1. Executive summary

2. Key statistics

3. Country overview

4. Telecommunications market

4.1 Market analysis

5. Regulatory environment

5.1 Historic background

5.2 Regulatory authority

5.2.1 ARCEP (formerly Artel)

5.3 NICI development plan

5.4 West African common regulatory framework 2005

5.5 Market liberalisation

5.5.1 Second fixed-line and fourth mobile licence

5.6 Universal Service Fund

6. Fixed-network operators

6.1 Onatel

6.1.1 Services

6.1.2 Privatisation

6.1.3 IPO

6.1.4 National telecom network

6.1.5 Wireless Local Loop (WLL), CDMA2000 1x

6.1.6 National fibre backbone

6.1.7 Cloud-based services

6.2 International infrastructure

7. Fixed-line broadband market

7.1 Introduction and statistical overview

7.2 Broadband statistics

7.3 Public Internet access locations

7.4 Other ISPs

7.5 Fixed-line broadband technologies

7.5.1 Other fixed broadband services

7.6 Broadband via satellite

8. Digital media

8.1 E-government

8.2 E-education

8.3 Digital Terrestrial TV (DTTV)

9. Mobile market

9.1 Market analysis

9.1.1 Mobile statistics

9.1.2 Mobile data

9.1.3 Mobile broadband

9.1.4 Regulatory measures

9.2 Major mobile operators

9.2.1 Airtel Burkina Faso (formerly Zain, Celtel)

9.2.2 Telmob (Onatel)

9.2.3 Moov (Telecel, Etisalat)

9.3 Mobile infrastructure

9.3.1 Third generation (3G)

9.3.2 Other infrastructure developments

9.4 Mobile content and applications

9.4.1 m-payment

9.4.2 m-health

10. Related reports

Table 1 Country statistics Burkina Faso 2015

Table 2 Fixed-line network statistics 2016 (e)

Table 3 Internet provider statistics 2016

Table 4 Internet and social media user statistics 2016 (e)

Table 5 Mobile statistics 2016 (e)

Table 6 National telecommunications authority

Table 7 ICT parameters by service 2004 - 2016

Table 8 Onatel subscribers by service 2010 - 2016

Table 9 Onatel financial data 2011 - 2016

Table 10 Historic - Fixed-lines in service and teledensity 1999 - 2009

Table 11 Fixed-lines in service and teledensity 2010 - 2017

Table 12 CDMA lines in service 2009 - 2014

Table 13 Burkina Fasos international internet bandwidth 2002 - 2015

Table 14 Historic - Internet users and penetration rate 1999 - 2009

Table 15 Internet users and penetration rate 2010 - 2017

Table 16 Fixed-line internet subscribers 2006 2016s

Table 17 Public telecentres 2009 - 2014

Table 18 ISP operating data 2014

Table 19 Moov broadband subscribers 2011 - 2016

Table 20 FasoNet (Onatel) internet subscribers 2006 - 2016

Table 21 Onatel DSL subscribers 2005 - 2014

Table 22 Wireless broadband subscribers 2007 - 2013

Table 23 Historic - Mobile subscribers and penetration rate in Burkina Faso 1999 - 2009

Table 24 Mobile subscribers and penetration rate in Burkina Faso 2010 - 2017

Table 25 Mobile operator market share of subscribers 2011 - 2014

Table 26 SMS traffic 2004 - 2016

Table 27 Active mobile broadband subscribers 2013 - 2016

Table 28 Mobile internet subscribers 2011 - 2014

Table 29 Bharti Airtel mobile subscribers 2006 - 2014

Table 30 Onatel mobile subscribers 2007 - 2016

Table 31 Onatel revenue 2011 - 2014

Table 32 Onatel annualised ARPU 2011 - 2015

Table 33 Moov mobile subscribers 2007 - 2016

Chart 1 Onatel subscribers by service 2010 - 2016

Chart 2 Fixed-lines in service and teledensity in Burkina Faso 2005 2017

Chart 3 Internet users and penetration rate 2005 2017

Chart 4 Mobile subscribers and penetration rate 2005 - 2017

Exhibit 1 Map of Burkina Faso

Exhibit 2 West African common regulatory framework 2005

Burkina Faso - Telecoms, Mobile and Broadband - Statistics and Analyses

Orange Group expands in Burkina Faso with acquisition of Airtel business

Burkina Faso's telecom sector has been held back by the slow pace of regulatory procedures. This has contributed to delays in operators being able to launch 3G and LTE services despite mobile networks being fundamental to internet access. The poor state of fixed-line networks has meant that in recent years the number of fixed-line subscribers has fallen steadily as customers migrate to the limited services available from the three mobile network operators. The fixed-line incumbent Onatel, majority-owned by Maroc Telecom, operates the country's fixed-line network, a CDMA2000 wireless network, a fibre optic backbone and one of three GSM mobile networks, Telmob.

Mobile telephony has experienced strong growth since competition was introduced in 2000 by Celtel/Zain and Telecel International. Both operators have seen a change of ownership, with Zain having been acquired by Bharti Airtel before being sold on to Orange Group in 2016, and with Telecel becoming part of Marco Telecom and being rebranded as Moov. Although market penetration remains below the African average, is continues to grow steadily.

Onatel's FasoNet is the country's leading internet service provider, dominating the broadband market with its DSL and EV-DO offerings. Penetration rates in this sector are still extremely low and services remain expensive despite some price cuts introduced since 2011 in the wake of improved international bandwidth capacity. Being landlocked, Burkina Faso for long depended on expensive satellite links for its international bandwidth, though in recent years connectivity has been facilitated by transit fibre links through adjacent countries which have direct access to the region's international fibre optic submarine cables. Although about 50 ISPs have been licensed, only three compete with FasoNet, and collectively these have fewer than 1,000 subscribers.

The mobile operators have entered the underdeveloped internet sector by offering mobile data services using GPRS and EDGE technology, but 3G services have not yet been introduced except for Onatel's EV-DO fixed-wireless service.

Market penetration rates in Burkina Faso's telecoms sector 2016 (e)
Penetration of telecoms services: | Penetration
Fixed-line telephony | 0.4%
Internet users | 11.6%
Mobile SIM (population) | 85.3%
(Source: BuddeComm)

Key developments:

Vodafone Wholesale and Huawei complete cable to Ghanaian border; Bharti Airtel completes the sale of its local unit to Orange Group; Onatel reports 11% increase in revenue for H1 2016; G-Cloud project aiming to connect more than 400 institutions in all 13 regions; government contracts Alcatel-Lucent to provide cloud networking technology facilitating digital public services; Airtel and MTN launch money transfer service between Burkina Faso and Ivory Coast; regulator imposes fines on MNOs for breaches of network coverage and QoS conditions; Finance Act 2014 mandates a 5% tax on telcos; international internet bandwidth increases to 5.38Gb/s; Maroc Telecom deploys new cable linking Burkina Faso to Morocco, Mauritania, Mali and Niger; report includes the regulator's annual reports and market statistical updates to December 2014, telcos' financial and operating data to Q2 2016, recent market developments.

Companies mentioned in this report:

Onatel, Telmob, Bharti Airtel (Zain, Celtel), Moov (Telecel, Etisalat), FasoNet, ZCP, Delgi, Cenatrin, CFAO Technologies, River Telecom, Net Access, Maroc Telecom, Vivendi.