Liberia Telecoms Market Report

Telecoms, Mobile and Broadband - Statistics and Analyses

Publication Date: April 2024

Report Pages: 98

Lead Analyst: Henry Lancaster

Contributing Analyst: Peter Lange

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Summary
Table Of Contents

Liberia rebrands national telco to coincide with GSM service launch

Liberia has a telecom market which is mainly based on mobile networks. That this should be so is largely due to the protracted civil war which destroyed much of the fixed-line infrastructure. The fixed-line incumbent telco– rebranded as LTC Mobile in January 2022–has struggled with mismanagement and government neglect. Its revenue is inadequate to allow it to invest in network infrastructure, and it has failed to make inroads in the market.

In an attempt to rectify this dire situation, the government in late 2020 awarded LTC Mobile a GSM licence, thereby hoping that the company could branch into mobile voice and data services and thus generate revenue. However, the process is a gamble since it will compete with the two established operators MTN Liberia and Orange Liberia, both of which have considerably greater resources and experience. To facilitate LTC Mobile’s market entry, the government in January 2022 set in train amendments to telecom legislation though it is uncertain what results these may have in the long term. LTC Mobile soon afterwards launched LTE services.

Internet services are available from a number of wireless ISPs as well as the mobile operators. The high cost and limited bandwidth of connections means that internet access is expensive and penetration rates are very low. Although additional bandwidth is available from an international submarine cable, considerable investment is still needed in domestic fixed-line infrastructure before end-users can make full use of the cable.

The harmonisation of a disorderly mobile licensing and spectrum allocation regime has caused some difficulties, and market penetration remains low compared to other countries in the region. Penetration has also been affected by SIM card registration requirements imposed in recent years.

The market is ineffectively monitored by the telecom regulator, which lacks the resources, technical expertise, and documentation to enforce its orders. As a result, a number of operators are able to avoid paying fees to the government and have continued to operate despite the regulator’s rulings that they must close down their services.

Key developments:

National carrier Libtelco is rebranded as LTC Mobile ahead of its launch of mobile services;
MTN Group signs MoU with Rakuten Symphony to trial LTE and 5G technologies;
CSquared is approved to deploy fibre infrastructure covering all of Liberia;
Regulator tightens SIM card registration scheme;
MNOs again investigated for poor QoS;
Global Voice Group (GVG) delivers International Gateway Management System;
Regulator to receive portion of operator revenue under new payment regime;
Report update includes telcos’ operating data to Q1 2022, updated Telecom Maturity Index charts and analyses, recent market developments.

Companies mentioned in this report:

LTC Mobile (Liberia Telecommunications Corporation, Libtelco), MTN Liberia (LoneStar), Cellcom, Comium (Novafone), LiberCell, Globacom, West Africa Telecom (WAT)

Key statistics
Regional Africa Market Comparison

Market characteristics
Market Leaders
Market Challengers
Market Emergents
TMI vs GDP
Mobile and mobile broadband penetration
Fixed versus mobile broadband penetration

Country overview
Telecommunications market

Historical overview

Regulatory environment

Overview
Regulatory authority
Fixed-line developments

Liberia Telecommunications Act
ICT Policy and ICT Act
Privatisation
International gateways
Universal Access Program (UAP)
Universal licence

Mobile network developments

Licence reform
GSM spectrum reallocation
Mobile Termination Rate (MTR)
SIM card registration
Roaming
Tariffs

Mobile market

Market analysis
Mobile statistics
Mobile infrastructure

5G
4G (LTE)
3G
Mobile broadband

Major mobile operators

MTN Liberia (LoneStar)
Orange Liberia (Cellcom)
Novafone GSM (Comium)
LiberCell
JamCell
LTC Mobile

Mobile content and applications

Agricultural Market Information and Linkage System (AMILS)
m-health
m-money

Fixed broadband market

Introduction and statistical overview

Broadband statistics
Fixed wireless (Wi-Fi and WiMAX)

Fixed-line operators

LTC Mobile
West Africa Telecom (WAT)

Telecommunications infrastructure

Overview of the national telecom network
International infrastructure

Terrestrial
Satellite
Submarine fibre

Appendix – Historic data
Glossary of abbreviations
Related reports

List of Tables

Table 1 – Top Level Country Statistics and Telco Authorities – Liberia – 2022(e)
Table 2 – Growth in the number of mobile subscribers and penetration – 2012 – 2027
Table 3 – Growth in the number of active mobile broadband subscribers – 2012 – 2027
Table 4 – Change in the number of MTN Liberia’s subscribers and ARPU – 2012 – 2022
Table 5 – Growth in the number of MTN Liberia’s mobile data subscribers – 2016 – 2021
Table 6 – Development of MTN Liberia’s financial data (ZAR million) – 2012 – 2021
Table 7 – Change in MTN Liberia’s mobile usage – 2013 – 2021
Table 8 – Change in the number of Orange Liberia’s mobile subscribers – 2012 – 2022
Table 9 – Growth in the number of MTN Liberia’s m-money subscribers – 2018 – 2021
Table 10 – Internet users and penetration rate in Liberia – 2011 – 2019
Table 11 – Growth in the number of fixed broadband subscribers – 2011 – 2027
Table 12 – Fixed lines in service and teledensity – 2012 – 2027
Table 13 – Historic - Fixed lines in service and teledensity in Liberia – 1999 – 2011
Table 14 – Historic - Mobile subscribers and penetration – 2001 – 2011
Table 15 – Historic - SMS traffic – 2008 – 2013
Table 16 – Historic - Novafone mobile subscribers – 2013 – 2016
Table 17 – Historic - International internet bandwidth – 2008 – 2017
Table 18 – Historic - Internet users and penetration rate in Liberia – 1999 – 2011
Table 19 – Historic - MTN Liberia subscribers, ARPU – 2005 – 2011

List of Charts

Chart 1 – Africa Telecoms Maturity Index – Market Leaders
Chart 2 – Africa – Market Leaders global ranking
Chart 3 – Africa Telecoms Maturity Index – Market Challengers
Chart 4 – Africa – Market Challengers global ranking
Chart 5 – Africa Telecoms Maturity Index – Market Emergents
Chart 6 – Africa – Market Emergents global ranking
Chart 7 – Africa – Telecoms Maturity Index vs GDP per capita
Chart 8 – Africa – Mobile subscriber penetration vs mobile broadband penetration
Chart 9 – Africa – Fixed and mobile broadband penetration
Chart 10 – Growth in the number of mobile subscribers and penetration – 2012 – 2027
Chart 11 – Growth in the number of active mobile broadband subscribers and penetration – 2013 – 2027
Chart 12 – Change in the number of MTN Liberia’s mobile subscribers – 2012 – 2022
Chart 13 – Growth in the number of MTN Liberia’s mobile data subscribers – 2016 – 2021
Chart 14 – Development of MTN Liberia’s financial data – 2012 – 2021
Chart 15 – Change in the number of Orange Liberia’s mobile subscribers – 2012 – 2021
Chart 16 – Growth in the number of MTN Liberia’s m-money subscribers – 2018 – 2021
Chart 17 – Fixed lines in service and teledensity – 2012 – 2027

List of Exhibits

Exhibit 1 – Map of Telecom Maturity Index global ranking among countries in Africa
Exhibit 2 – Generalised Market Characteristics by Market Segment
Exhibit 3 – Africa – Market Leaders and market developments
Exhibit 4 – Africa – Market Challengers and market developments
Exhibit 5 – Africa – Market Emergents and market developments
Exhibit 6 – Map of Liberia

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Liberia Telecoms Market Report

Telecoms, Mobile and Broadband - Statistics and Analyses

Purchase this Report

Liberia rebrands national telco to coincide with GSM service launch

Key developments:

Companies mentioned in this report:

Key statistics

Regional Africa Market Comparison

Country overview

Telecommunications market

Regulatory environment

Mobile market

Fixed broadband market

Fixed-line operators

Telecommunications infrastructure

Appendix – Historic data

Glossary of abbreviations

Related reports

Purchase this Report

Share this Report

TMT Intelligence

A platform to scale your intelligence tasks

Research Methodology

Hot Topics

News & Views