Mozambique - Telecoms, Mobile and Broadband - Statistics and Analyses
Executive summary
Mozambique prepares for multi-spectrum auction
Although delayed by the long civil war which ended in 1992, Mozambique was one of the first countries in the region to embark upon telecom reform. As a result, some sectors have been opened to competition. The mobile segment in particular has shown strong growth since the introduction of competition in 2003 between Vodacom Mozambique and mCel, the incumbent mobile subsidiary of the national telco Telecomunicações de Moçambique (TdM). Mobile penetration remains far below the average for the region. Given that the country has relatively low fixed-line penetration there is considerable room for further growth in coming years. This has been stimulated by the launch of commercial services from the third operator Movitel, which is backed by Vietnam’s Viettel.
In recent years the government has drafted legislation aimed at enforcing the registration of SIM cards. At the end of 2016 almost five million unregistered SIM cards were deactivated. Measures aimed at sharing network infrastructure have helped reduce operational and investment costs, and enabled players to provide converged voice, data and TV services over single networks. Vodacom Mozambique was awarded such a licence in mid-2018, and soon afterwards launched the country’s first LTE service.
The poor fixed-line infrastructure has largely held back the market for fixed-line internet services, and as a result mobile internet accounts for most connections. The high cost of international bandwidth had long hampered internet use, though the landing of two international submarine cables (SEACOM and EASSy) has reduced the cost of bandwidth and so led to drastic reductions in broadband retail prices.
There is some cross-platform competition, with DSL, cable broadband, WiMAX, 3G and limited fibre broadband available. Further improvements can be expected from the ongoing rollout of a national fibre backbone networks by TdM and the mobile operators.
Key developments:
Regulator starts multi-spectrum auction process, imposes MTR cuts through to 2020;
TdM and mCel begin restructure and merger exercise;
TdM contracts Intelsat for satellite broadband and backhaul services;
Liquid Sea and Africa-1 submarine cable systems to improve bandwidth;
Mozambique joins the Alliance for Affordable Internet, aiming to provide broadband at less than 5% of average monthly income;
Report update includes the regulator’s market data for 2017, operator data updates to Q3 2018, ITU market data updates, Telecom Maturity Index tables, charts and analyses, recent market developments.
Companies mentioned in this report:
Telecomunicações De Moçambique (TdM); Vodacom Mozambique; mCel (TdM); Movitel (Viettel); Teledata (TdM); TV Cabo; Intra; Tropical Web, SEACOM.
Table of Contents
1. Executive summary
2. Key statistics
3. Country overview
4. Telecommunications market
4.1 Market analysis
5. Regional African Market Comparison
5.1 Mobile and mobile broadband
5.2 Fixed and mobile broadband
5.3 TMI vs GDP
6. Regulatory environment
6.1 Telecommunications Law 1992
6.2 Basic Telecommunications Act 2004
6.3 Amended Telecommunications Act 2016
6.4 Regulatory authority
6.5 National Commission on Information
6.6 Telecom sector liberalisation
6.7 Privatisation
6.8 Interconnection
6.9 Universal service
6.10 Spectrum monitoring
7. Fixed network operator - TdM
8. Telecommunications infrastructure
8.1 Overview of the national telecom network
8.2 National fibre backbone
8.3 Data centres
8.4 International infrastructure
8.4.1 Satellite
8.4.2 Terrestrial microwave and fibre
8.4.3 Submarine fibre
9. Fixed-line broadband market
9.1 Introduction and statistical overview
9.2 Broadband statistics
9.3 Public internet access locations
9.4 Mozambique Internet Exchange Point (MOZ-IX)
9.5 Fixed-line broadband technologies
9.5.1 Hybrid Fibre Coax (HFC) networks
9.5.2 Digital Subscriber Line (DSL) networks
9.5.3 Fibre-to-the-Premises (FttP) networks
9.5.4 Fixed wireless (Wi-Fi and WiMAX)
10. Digital economy
10.1 E-government
10.2 e-learning
11. Mobile market
11.1 Market analysis
11.2 Mobile statistics
11.3 Mobile broadband
11.4 Forecasts – mobile subscribers – 2018; 2020; 2022
11.5 Regulatory issues
11.5.1 Third mobile licence
11.5.2 Spectrum auction3
11.5.3 Roaming
11.5.4 SIM card registration
11.6 Mobile infrastructure
11.6.1 3G
11.6.2 LTE
11.7 Major mobile operators
11.7.1 mCel
11.7.2 Vodacom Mozambique
11.7.3 Movitel
11.8 Mobile content and applications
11.8.1 m-money
12. Related reports
Table 1 – Top Level Country Statistics and Telco Authorities - Mozambique – 2018 (e)
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