Guinea’s telecom minister Ousmane Gaoual Diallo has confirmed that state-owned player Guinee Telecom – formerly Sotelgui (Societe des Telecoms de Guinee) – has commenced the public test phase of its mobile network.
The operator switched on a 4G network in Conakry district’s capital city Kaloum on 11th May. Testing will be achieved through 10,000 SIM cards which will be distributed to citizens. Diallo noted that a report following the trial would inform decisions on how SIMs would be sold in the market – whether directly via the operator, via a private partner, or under the watch of the authorities.
In March, we reported that Guinea’s government had delayed the operator’s planned launch from 2023 to 2024 to allow time for nationwide network testing. Guinee Telecom will also take advantage of the delay to boost its operations, accounting, commercial and administrative departments as it gears up to begin offering 4G and 5G services from next year.
Guinea’s market is currently dominated by Orange, which had a 67% market share as of end-2022 according to data from the ARPT (L’Autoritie de Regulation des Postes et Telecommunications). The regulator ranked MNT Guinea in second place with 24% and Cellcom in third with 9%.
