Mauritania: Mauritania Communication Profile

Mauritania Mobile Operator Estimate, 2010 - 2014: Mauritania to have 4.2 million mobile subscriber connections in 2014 with Mauritel taking 57.5% market share

Sitting on the edge of the Sahara desert, Mauritania's terrain is mostly barren, including the flat plains of the Sahara. Most of the people is concentrated in the cities of Nouakchott and Nouadhibou and along the Senegal River in the southern part of the country. The urban people constitutes over 40 % of the total as at 2008.

Due to a deficit in electricity production ranging from 7 to 17 % in the hot season, Nouakchott, the capital, experiences frequent power cuts. As a result, power is rationed in amount neighbourhoods and it does not exceed hours in a row per neighbourhood. The government expects that ongoing projects will help to improve supply, aiming to reach electricity coverage of 50-80 % by 2015. The French Development Agency is to grant Mauritania EUR 20 million in 2011 half to reform the electricity sector.

Due to the country’s geographical features, satellite broadband seems to be the majority common solution in remote areas. For example of the satellite services is SkyOne-IP broadband, a-way satellite Internet transfer (VSAT) system which provides Internet access in the least accessible areas. A domestic satellite telecommunications system links Nouakchott with regional capitals. The remaining telecoms infrastructure consists of a limited system of cable and open-wire lines. Small scale FWA private networks are as well being deployed. The serve either private networks (mining, oil companies etc) or are small ISP deployments.

Most of the legacy telecom networks comprise outdated infrastructure inherited from French colonisation. As local resources were limited, to attract the necessary investment, in 2001 Mauritania started privatising its telecoms sector. With the privatisation of Mauritel, the market was in theory opened to competition; however the incumbent operator remains the monopoly provider of fixed-line services.

Fixed-line penetration by people is only 2.4 % of the lowest in the world. Between 2008 and 2009 it fell by 2 %. Data and communication technologies remain a luxury for the predominantly Bedouin and tribal society, characterised by the traditional way of life. However, the Internet has become an significant component of Mauritanian education, with an increasing number of students using Internet cafes for online research.

Incumbents

Mobile

Competitive Landscape

At end-2010, Mauritania’s fixed-line and internet market was split between operators: Mauritel and Chinguitel, since Mattel had not from now on launched its fixed-line network. In Q410, Mauritel held a 55 % share of the fixed-line market with 41,000 fixed-lines (down from 42,000 in Q210) and 7,000 Internet customers. The incumbent offers Internet access via PSTN, ISDN, leased lines and ADSL, launched in 2006. Its local network includes standard wire cables and wireless local loop (WLL). Mauritel is as well relying on satellite technologies. Its satellite transmission network is 97 % digital and operates using satellites. These satellites are Intelsat, serving direct traffic and transit traffic to Europe, the Americas, Africa and the rest of the world; and Arabsat, serving regional and domestic traffic.

Despite difficult terrain, Mauritel is investing in fixed infrastructure. In May 2011, the operator launched a MRO 3 billion cable project which will link Nouakchott to Kobonni via 24 fibre-optic pairs. Mauritel chose Huawei to implement the network which will have an initial capacity of 2.5 Gbps and will be able to facilitate a capacity of 40 Gbps in next. The backbone will provide broadband capacity to the towns and villages along its path. It could as well serve as a thoroughfare for mobile Internet communications.

Outside the country, Mauritel has been investing in submarine and terrestrial cross-border cable systems in a bid to lower bandwidth costs. In October 2006, it rolled out a second data link on SAT3 (South Atlantic 3/West Africa Submarine Cable) with a bandwidth capacity of 45 Mbps. As a result, Mauritel's fibre capacity increased to 79 Mbps, including an before 34 Mbps link with Telefonica. Mauritel did not disclose what it was paying for SAT3 capacity, particularly the stretch from the Mauritanian border to Dakar. However, according to sources this bandwidth was "expensive".

In May 2009, Maroc Telecom announced plans to deploy a new fibre-optic cable through the Western Sahara into Mauritania. This is expected to give Mauritania a competitive alternative to using SAT3 through Dakar. Furthermore, in January 2011, The European Investment Bank allocated EUR 8 million to fund 35 % of the cost of the first fibre-optic cable linking Mauritania to Europe and West Africa. The Cable ACE (Africa Coast to Europe) project, initiated by France Telecom, will result in a 17,000 km cable along the west coast of Africa, to be used by the three Mauritanian telecom providers. It is claimed it will provide cheaper Internet access than the satellite connections now in use. An economic interest grouping (EIG) was created including Mauripost (the national postal service) and the three Mauritanian operators involved in ACE, under France Telecom's management. Mauritel owns 20 % of this EIG.

Meanwhile Mauritel’s rival Chinguitel is focusing on wireless technologies. At the end of 2008, Chinguitel started deployment of the mobile WiMAX network using the 2.5 GHz spectrum, with the view of creating a CDMA and WiMAX integrated network infrastructure. Its current broadband offering includes up to 1 Mbps mobile broadband, in addition to a 153 Kbps dial up service.

Developments

Pricing and Tariffs

As of Q311, Mauritel's entry level ADSL tariff with 256 Kbps download speed was priced at MRO 5,700. The highest speed tariff had a 4 Mbps speed and was priced at MRO 55,882.

Broadband Statistics

At the end of 2010, there were around 7,000 DSL subscribers in the country. This figure was slightly up from 6,530 at the end of 2009 and from 5,876 at end-2008. At the end of 2010, broadband penetration part people stood at 0.2 %. Unsurprisingly, mobile Internet is much additional popular than fixed broadband, though still very thinly spread. As of end-2009 there were just over 22,000 mobile Internet subscribers. This figure includes GPRS, CDMA, UMTS, 1X, EVDO technologies.

Regulatory Developments

The Department of Postal and Telecommunications Services (OPT) was established in 1997 as an independent statutory body. In 1998, the Government announced a sector reform centred on key principles:

• The separation of the postal and telecommunications services into distinct companies, with financial and managerial autonomy, and subject to specific regulation;

A new telecommunications law was adopted in July 1999. The law redefined the institutional framework of the telecommunications sector with a view to market liberalisation and increased private sector participation. It as well separated the management and regulation of the sector. In 2000, OPT was split into separate companies: Mauritel for telecommunications services and Mauripost for postal services.

A new regulatory entity (Regulatory Authority - Autorité de Régulation) headed by individuals who cannot be affiliated with the telecommunications sector, was created and put in charge of developing:

The role of the Regulatory Authority is to oversee the application of the Law and its decrees. In particular, it organises and oversees the bidding for licences and provides the required authorisations. It as well makes decisions regarding the suspension and retraction of licences which is conveyed to the Minister of Telecommunications. The Regulatory Authority is as well in charge of defining the rules with regards to:

The Ministry of Telecommunications oversees the telecommunications sector and defines the policy for the development of the sector, particularly the universal access policy. The Minister has the authority to grant, suspend and retract licences, as decided by the Regulatory Authority.