18 February 2020

Algérie Télécom subsidiary Mobilis is ready to become the latest player to enter Mali, having been awarded an operating licence to deploy services nationwide.

The award – which includes rights to offer 2G, 3G and 4G services – was confirmed by Modibo Arouna Touré, Mali’s minister of the digital economy and communication, under a provisional agreement with the government.

Although the final terms are yet to be negotiated regarding the setting up of a new subsidiary for Algérie Télécom, Touré said company officials are expected in Mali ‘in the coming weeks’ to ‘sign documents and concretise the latest steps, including financial, and start construction work of the network’.

Mobilis will be the fourth operator in the domestic mobile market, joining established players Orange Mali, Alpha Telecom and Malitel, the mobile arm of fixed line incumbent SOTELMA.

The award more than a year after Algeria’s telecoms minister Houda Imane Faraoun confirmed that Algérie Télécom’s cellular unit had applied for the fourth licence.