Benin ICT Sector Performance Review 2009/2010
Internet Service Prices
Free competition has led to a drop in the service usage rates at Internet cafés. For more than five
years, the average connection rate per hour has been 300 FCFA. We find even lower rates in big
cities (Cotonou, Porto-Novo and Parakou) in certain Internet cafés. However, these rates present
investment profitability problems to Internet café owners.
As far as the wholesale market is concerned, since 2007, for reasons of the reorganization of the
sector, all the licences granted to Internet access providers (IAPs) were suspended. Only two IAPs
hold temporary licences. The operator Bénin-Télécom SA received a temporary licence for a trial to
provide Wimax. The company Isotel Télécom obtained a similar licence for Internet provision via
radio link from Broadband Wireless Access (BWA) technology. It involves a wireless Internet access
solution. In addition, Bénin-Télécom SA is authorized to continue providing an ADSL connection. A
dispensation exists, however, for other suspended IAP who use ADSL technology in subcontracting with Bénin-Télécom SA.
The company Isocel Télécom offers two types of products. There are the prepaid connection
ISONET for households and individual subscribers, and the post-paid connection ISOPRO for
professionals. For an ISONET connection, the client must pay the initial amount of 99,000 FCFA
including taxes for the connection. This includes the price of a connection kit and the antenna
installation fees. For use, the subscriber has the option of choosing among three options. The
“unlimited access” option costs 25,000 FCFA per month. “Evenings and Weekends” access at
15,000 FCFA is valid for 30 days, and a “50 Hours” option is available at 10,000 FCFA and is valid for
30 days. The ISOPRO option is a post-paid solution for companies and people who want a high
speed shared or dedicated connection. Various subscription options are offered for which the
monthly amounts vary between 35,000 FCFA for a 128 Kbps connection and 500,000 FCFA for a
speed of 2048 Kbps.
The operator Bénin-Télécom SA offers a varied range of Internet access. The different products as
well as the access fees and subscription costs are recorded in the following table:
Table 14: Access fees and monthly charges offered by Bénin Télécom SA.
Product Name
Speed
(Kbps)
Access Fees
(FCFA)
Monthly Charge
(FCFA)
Kanakoo Liberté
115
50 000
Without monthly subscription
Browsing at 400 FCFA per hour
Kanakoo Liberté plus
230
50 000
Without monthly subscription
Browsing at 400 FCFA per hour
Kanakoo ADSL Family
256
55 000
25 000
Kanakoo ADSL IP Family
256
265 000
25 000
Kanakoo Wimax Family
256
220 000
25 000
Kanakoo Wimax Pro
1024
220 000
200 000
Kanakoo ADSL pro
1024
60 000
200 000
Kanakoo ADSL Pro
512
60 00
80 000
Kanakoo ADSL IP Pro
512
270 000
80 000
Source: Compiled from data from Bénin Télécoms SA.
Interconnection Costs
In Benin, interconnection fees are set after negotiation between the operators under the
supervision of the Autorité Transitoire de Régulation des Postes et Télécommunications. Table 15
shows the interconnection fees between 2000 and 2009.
15
Free competition has
led to a drop in the
service usage rates at
Internet cafés.