Towards Evidence-based ICT Policy and Regulation
Analysis of the Development of Telecommunication,
Internet and Broadcasting Markets
The telecommunication and ICT sector in Benin is marked by the presence of the following
role players:
•
one fixed-line network operator (Bénin-Télécoms SA). It is a public operator. This company is
currently being privatized. For the moment no decision has yet been made on the future
market structure.
•
five GSM operators, of which four are private and one belongs to Bénin-Télécoms SA,
the incumbent operator. Modifications to this market structure are not foreseen in the
near future.
•
internet access providers (IAP)
•
various radio and television channels
Despite the law on the liberalization of the telecommunication sector, the fixed line telephone
market remains a public monopoly, the only service provider being Bénin-Télécoms SA. However,
in spite of its monopoly and the economic investments made by the country, the public
company Bénin-Télécoms SA does not manage to properly extend its network across the
national territory.
Table 2: Evolution in the number of fixed-line subscribers per department.
Departments
2001
2002
2003
2004
2005
2006
2007
2008
ALIBORI
610
677
761
790
905
866
886
951
ATACORA
846
927
989
1.124
1.235
1.214
1.224
1.100
ATLANTIQUE
4.181
4.596
4.868
6.388
7.290
7.597
7.109
7.021
BORGOU
2.329
2.468
2.783
3.206
3.392
3.349
3.291
3.127
COLLINES
976
1.082
1.266
1.505
1.297
1.659
1.721
1.291
COUFFO
186
204
237
202
434
451
452
387
DONGA
613
706
707
724
695
640
649
651
31.746
32.273
34.257
36.593
38.123
38.559
38.271
34.720
MONO
1.256
1.441
1.682
1.862
1.939
1.884
1.963
1.533
OUEME
6.611
6.602
7.193
8.232
8.785
9.083
9.445
10.330
914
967
994
1.250
1.294
1.320
1.323
1.483
2.717
2.866
3.110
3.643
3.650
3.625
3.468
3.715
TOTAL NUMBER
59.298
62.669
66.511
72.789
76.267
EVOLUTION (%)
---
5,68
6,13
9,44
4,78
1,41
42,55
19,08
0,92
0,93
0,96
1,01
1,03
1,04
1,37
1,63
LITTORAL
PLATEAU
The Beninese mobile
telephone market,
which has five
competing operators
(Libercom, Moov,
MTN, Bell Bénin and
Glo Mobile Bénin),
is an oligopolistic
market
Years
ZOU
TELEDENSITY
77.342 110.254 131.286
Source: Compiled from data from Bénin-Télécoms SA
An oligopoly is a market structure in which a limited number of companies offer their goods or
services to all consumers. The Beninese mobile telephone market, which has five competing
operators (Libercom, Moov, MTN, Bell Bénin and Glo Mobile Bénin), is an oligopolistic market.
It has to be noted that in the beginning, only the incumbent operator (Bénin-Télécoms SA)
intervened in this market (through Libercom) before being joined in 2000 by two other operators
(Moov and MTN), which are multinational companies. The fourth operator, Bell Bénin, entered the
market in December 2003. Following the suspension of private networks (Moov, MTN and Bell
Bénin) in view of the renegotiation of their licences in 2007, the State of Benin allocated a fifth
licence to the operator Glo Mobile Bénin, which arrived on the market in 2008. The table below
presents the distribution of the number of mobile telephone subscribers from 2003 to 2009.
8