SENEGAL is a WATRA member state with a population of 16.3 million. They use the call code +221 and have a National Regulatory body called the Autorité de Régulation des Télécommunications et des Postes (ARTP SENEGAL)- 2002. The body is led by Mr. ABDOUL LY- the Director general
There are currently four main cellular companies: Orange owned by Sonatel; Free Senegal (Sentel, Tigo Senegal); Hayo/CSU; and Expresso/Sudatel, with Hayo on the come up.
Orange had a total of 9.93 million subscribers (31 Dec 2015), Free Senegal had 3.355 million subscribers (31 Dec 2015), SUDATEL had 3.188 million subscribers (31 Dec 2015) while Hayo Telecom had 483 thousand subscribers (31 Dec 2015)
The period between 2010 and 2016 in Senegalese telecommunication sector estimated that each 10 per cent increase in mobile broadband penetration yielded 1.04 percent of GDP growth. This can be assured to be because of the preeminent role in providing Internet connectivity in the context of fixed broadband underdevelopment both in terms of the number of subscribers, pricing and coverage. The ICT sector in Senegal accounted for five percent of GDP in 2017.
According to a 2015 UNESCO report, although Senegal has a population of over 15 million individuals, 4 million use the internet while almost 100% of the population uses mobile phones. 99 out of 100 people have mobile subscriptions and 22% of the population uses the internet. The failure of the ICT sector can be traced to the obsolescence of law, the geographical distribution of infrastructures to facilitate access, the cost of ITC services etc.
