09 March 2022

The Chadian government is negotiating lower internet rates with telecom operators, in a bid to make services more accessible in a country which is among the nations with the most expensive prices in Africa.

Exchanges were held to this effect in January between the minister of posts and digital economy, Idriss Saleh Bachar, with the managing directors of the cell phone companies Moov Africa and Airtel Chad, Mohamed Dkhissi and Djibril Tobe.

Moov Africa’s website shows that a 1 gigabit (GB) prepaid mobile Internet package is charged at CFA1,000, which is valid for 24 hours.

For the less affluent, a 200 megabits (MB) package valid for 24 hours costs CFA400. At Airtel, a package of 200 MB valid for 24 hours costs CFA500 and 1 GB costs CFA1,500.

These rates are quite expensive compared to those charged in neighbouring Cameroon, where Orange offers a package of 100 MB valid for 24 hours at CFA100 and CFA1,000 for 2 GB. This is the same rate at the competitor MTN.

During discussions, with Dkhissi and Tobe, Bachar said that the tariff proposals already made to the ministry are neither brilliant nor beneficial to Chadians, both in terms of price and duration of validity. He asked representatives of Moov Africa Chad and Airtel Chad to make further adjustments.