Moov, Airtel Partner To Bridge Digital Divide In Gabon

Telecommunications companies Airtel Gabon and Moov Africa Gabon have joined forces to provide digital inclusion in Gabon by extending mobile phone and internet services to underserved areas.

This initiative took place last week on Friday, bringing together the heads of the mobile phone companies, Airtel Gabon and Moov Africa Gabon Telecom, along with Célestin Kadjidja, the President of the Electronic Communications and Postal Regulatory Authority (ARCEP), to relaunch the project to develop the Universal Electronic Communications Service.

The objective of the second phase is to provide radio coverage to 200 villages located in the white zones areas, inhabited by populations that still lack mobile phone and internet services. The first phase of the project, which ran between 2016 and 2018, consisted of installing 18 radio stations that currently provide mobile telephone and internet services in 33 villages.

Brice Clotaire Oligui Nguema, Gabon’s serving Transitional President, Chairman of the Committee for the Transition and Restoration of Institutions, and Commander-in-Chief of the Gabonese Republican Guard, ordered the relaunch of the project, instructing ARCEP to find solutions for the inhabitants of these localities and promote digital inclusion.

“For the implementation of the second phase of the Universal Service development project, ARCEP is counting on the involvement of the two mobile telephony operators, whose mission will be to cover two hundred (200) previously identified villages,” said the ARCEP official.

According to data provided by ARCEP, approximately one thousand two hundred and fifty-three  villages have a deficit in mobile phone and internet coverage, equivalent to 6.5 percent of the Gabonese population. With Moov Africa and Airtel’s plan to cover Gabon’s white zones, telecom operators benefit from increasing their customer bases, as well as their revenues.

Data released by ARCEP for the first quarter of 2023 indicates that Gabon’s mobile phone penetration rate stands at 169 per cent and Internet connectivity at 120.3 per cent. However, given that many Gabon residents have multiple SIM cards, these numbers are projected to be lower.

This partnership aligns with Gabon’s 10-year plan for economic and social transformation, which saw the Government of Gabon and the World Bank signing a $68.5 million loan for the Digital Gabon Project in January 2024. This project aims to accelerate the implementation of digitalized public services.