Fifteen months after conducting 5G pilot testing in the country, MTN Côte d’Ivoire has announced that its 5G services will be available by the start of the 2024 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON), scheduled for January in that year.
This will allow residents and visitors to the country during the continent’s biggest football tournament to enjoy ultra-high-speed broadband during and after the competition.
The Ecofin news agency quotes Djibril Ouattara, Managing Director of MTN Côte d'Ivoire, as saying that the company has already deployed several 5G sites in Abidjan and in the interior of the country.
We reported in December 2021 that MTN Cote d'Ivoire was conducting a pilot of 5G in the West African country in beach resorts and rainforests. But this initiative is also relevant to the wider MTN Group and its efforts to position itself as a leading technology service provider in Africa in line with its Ambition 2025 strategy, which is “anchored in building the largest and most valuable platform business with a clear focus on Africa”, according to the company’s website.
MTN has already begun to roll out 5G elsewhere on the continent. In fact in November last year we reported that MTN had followed announcements of 5G launches in South Africa and Nigeria with the news that MTN Zambia had become the first mobile operator in the country to offer 5G services commercially.
Currently, MTN Cote d’Ivoire is the second-biggest player in the country with 34.3% of the mobile market. Orange has 43.8% market share and Moov has 21.9%.
