131.
In May 1997, in its “Sectoral Policy Statement” Chad decided to restructure the postal and
telecommunications sector. The opening of the electronic communications market to competition
enabled the entry of two mobile telephone service operators, Airtel and TIGO.
132.
In 2000, with the liberalization of the telecommunications market and the consequent opening
of this market to competition, the development and implementation of the ICT sector-specific policy
was not effortless due to the increasing number of stakeholders.
133.
Currently, three mobile operators share the market: Airtel, Tigo (Millicom) and Salam.
134.
The number of fixed-line subscribers increased from 12,000 in 1999 to 23,600 at the end of
2014, representing a telephone penetration rate of 0.18, with a turnover of 7.2 billion (11 million
euros).
135.
On the other hand, the mobile phone market has grown rapidly. The number of mobile phone
subscribers increased from 1,600,159 in 2008 to 5,275,300 in 2014, with a penetration rate that rose
from 17.5% in 2008 to 38.6% in 2014. Thus, the number of customers per mobile operator is as
follows:
136.
Operator
2008
2009
2010
2011
2012
2013
2014
AIRTEL
1 036 987
1 211 704
1 393 954 1 697 509 2 278 974 2 107 223
2 283 187
TIGO
541 159
1 017 159
1 429 350 1 894 278 2 029 882 2 403 985
2 922 249
SALAM
10 000
24 000
52 000
46 124
73 874
93 426
50 035
Source OTRT
137.
The internet access rate rose from 12.9% in 2013 to 14.1% in 2014. This rapid growth is due
to the granting of 3G and 4G licences to Airtel and Tigo. Internet revenues increase by 6.7% each
quarter. It has exceeded the 2.1 billion CFAF mark since the second quarter of 2014.
138.
There was a total of 2.7 million SMS users in Chad at the end of 2014, or 21 out of 100
Chadians, with a total revenue of 4.7 billion derived from SMS exchanges in 2014. The total volume
of SMS messages exchanged was 699,191,665, including 659,989,169 intra-network, 19,334,780
between national networks and 19,867,716 with international networks. Each quarter, the number of
SMS users increases by an average of 1.2% overall. The overall turnover for SMS messages rose
from CFAF 3.8 billion in 2013 to CFAF 4.7 billion in 2014, i.e. an increase of 22.4%.
139.
With a penetration rate of 40.4%, the entire electronic communications sector recorded a
turnover of CFAF 178 billion at the end of 2014, while employing 1,117 workers, including 905 men
and 212 women, i.e. 23 women for 100 men.
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