NIGER is a WATRA member state with a population of 19.66 million. They use the National Regulatory body, Autorité de Régulation des Télécommunications et de la Poste (ARTP). The body has a council made up of seven (7) members with Mrs BETY AICHATOU HABIBOU OUMANI as the Chairman of the Board. The mobile telephone service in Niger has 4 GSM mobile operators: Airtel Niger, Sahelcom/Sonitel, Moov Niger and Orange Niger.
Airtel Niger had 4,445,977 subscribers (2018), Orange Niger – 2,226,778 subscribers (2018), Moov Niger had 2,272,798 subscribers (2018) while Sonitel had 307,962 subscribers (2018)
The overall contribution of telecommunications, electricity, and roads infrastructure to Niger’s per capita growth between 2000 and 2005 was only 0.3 percentage points. Niger is one of the countries in ECOWAS which faces the largest challenges for the development of ICT. According to a 2015 UNESCO report, only 2% of the population has access to the internet with 46 out of 100 people having mobile subscription. Most of the failures of the ICT sector in the country can be blamed on the difficulties in the deployment of infrastructures and lack of relevant interconnection of the state services, Low mobile network coverage etc.
