Mozambique - Telecoms, Mobile and Broadband - Statistics and Analyses
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
Key statistics
Country overview
Telecommunications market
Market analysis
Regional African Market Comparison
Mobile and mobile broadband
Fixed and mobile broadband
TMI vs GDP
Regulatory environment
Telecommunications Law 1992
Basic Telecommunications Act 2004
Amended Telecommunications Act 2016
Regulatory authority
National Commission on Information
Telecom sector liberalisation
Privatisation
Interconnection
Universal service
Spectrum monitoring
Fixed network operator – TdM
Telecommunications infrastructure
Overview of the national telecom network
National fibre backbone
Data centres
International infrastructure
Satellite
Terrestrial microwave and fibre
Submarine fibre
Fixed-line broadband market
Introduction and statistical overview
Broadband statistics
Public internet access locations
Mozambique Internet Exchange Point (MOZ-IX)
Fixed-line broadband technologies
Hybrid Fibre Coax (HFC) networks
Digital Subscriber Line (DSL) networks
Fibre-to-the-Premises (FttP) networks
Fixed wireless (Wi-Fi and WiMAX)
Digital economy
E-government
e-learning
Mobile market
Market analysis
Mobile statistics
Mobile broadband
Forecasts – mobile subscribers – 2018; 2020; 2022
Regulatory issues
Third mobile licence
Spectrum auction3
Roaming
SIM card registration
Mobile infrastructure
3G
LTE
Major mobile operators
mCel
Vodacom Mozambique
Movitel
Mobile content and applications
m-money
Related reports
List of Tables
Table 1 – Top Level Country Statistics and Telco Authorities - Mozambique – 2018 (e)
