Senegal has a population of 13.51 million and is served by 3 mobile network operators: Orange Senegal (62% market share)2, Tigo (Millicom – 23% market share) and Expresso Sengal (Sudatel – 15% market share). With 11.5 million subscribers, penetration is estimated at 86.5%, and grew at 23% in 20123. 99% of subscribers use pre-paid SIMs and 3G penetration is estimated at 4%4. As with many African countries the population is young: it is estimated that over 63% are 24 or younger5.
Senegal Mobile Operators – Market Share
While Senegal is similar to Mali in terms of population and age profile of the population, the country has a GDP per capita (in PPP terms) twice that of its neighbour at $2,2006. ARPUs are low – Orange reports ARPU of €6 for 2012, down by 8.4% due to strong price competition from unlimited plans and an increase in lower usage customers7. Subscriber acquisition in 2012 shows that Expresso, as the new entrant, competed strongly for customers, growing from 864,000 to 1.7M, nearly doubling in size. Orange was able to grow by its customer base by 17% while Tigo grew by 11%.There is no indication of tower sharing to date in the country. However, given that Orange has a strong relationship with Eaton Towers and Tigo (Millcom) with Helios, it would not be surprising to see a towerco considering entry into this market. The situation is made more interesting by recent reports that Sudatel, who owns Expresso, is looking to sell its stake in its African operations8. This might provide an opportunity for a recently established towerco to provide sites for expansion plans of the new owners of Expresso. The operators will continue to focus on 3G deployment: with land line penetration at 282,000 lines and Internet lines estimated at less than 96,000, mobile offers the only real viable Internet access option
1 CIA World Factbook – data is estimate for July 2013
2 Orange owns 42.3%, Tigo is 100% owned by Millicom, and Expresso is 75% owned by Sudatel
3 ARTP (Regulator)
4 GSMA
5 CIA World Factbook
6 ibid
8 Reported in TeleGeography on 22nd March – Sudatel plots mass exodus; African subsidiaries up for grabs
