The Communication Market Structure

The Gambia’s Communications industry comprises of the telecommunications and internet service markets. The Telecommunications market consists of five operators. GAMTEL serves as the fixed network operator coupled with four mobile operators, GAMCEL, AFRICELL, COMIUM and QCELL. The fixed network operator offers telephone, and Internet services whilst the mobile operators provide GSM cellular voice and data services. The Internet market comprises of five Internet Service Providers (ISP’s), these are; GAMTEL’s ISP, UNIQUE SOLUTIONS, AFRICELL, NETPAGE, INSIST NET, DK TELECOMS and QCELL.

Below are highlights of Telecoms Sector Statistics over the years:

4G Subscribers

4G Subscribers 2018 2019 2020
Africell 21,723 36,529 49,651
Qcell 9,383 21,296 42,174

3G Subscribers

3G Subscribers 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020
Gamcel 150,165 159,600 115,677 118,222 103,867
Africell 257,587 382,155 512,609 570,565 650,882
Qcell 70,551 121,756 159,924 230,053 274,817

Total Subscribers

Total Subscribers 2018 2019 2020
Total Mobile Broadband (3G + 4G) 819,316 976,665 1,121,391
Total Subscribers 3,181,393 2,584,714 2,677,954
Mobile Broadband (% of Total Subs) 26% 38% 42%

Usage

Usage 2020 Q1 2020 Q2 2020 Q3 2020 Q4
On Net Minutes/ Subscriber 167.29 169.09 153.99 152.03
Off Net Minutes/ Subscriber 24.32 23.26 22.20 23.48
ARPU/Qtr (GMD) 356.53 366.73 362.93 386.52
ARPU/Qtr (USD) 7.13 7.33 7.25 7.7

Water

YEAR PRODUCTION m3 SALES m3 LOSSES %
2011 28,309,264 18,501,049 35
2012 29,930,553 20,563,417 32
2013 29,772,311 20,611,310 31
2014 35,395,881 25,944,355 27
2015 37,375,261 30,971,741 20
2016 40,226,849 24,137,070 40
2017 40,303,775 27,615,840 31
2018 39,278,276 27,695,207 29
2019 42,892,605 27,780,820 35
2020 44,293,774   27,555,956 38

Key Electrical Statistics

ITEMS 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020
Customer population 145141 146435 169432 182931 219352 221445 249678
Sales MWH -Credit 71789 88157 20277 44321 88298   75490 65,288  
Sales MWH-Prepayment 146577 138079 149162 125607 205346   352784 305,340
Rev. collection Credit (’000) 723.309 836.648 832.4001 800,093 923,519 860,131   553,547
Prepayment sales (’000) 1,254,764 1,400,113 1,614,551 1,809,093 2,345,317 2,705,134   2,862,509
System Losses Powerhouse Consumption 24         14,509 (MWh) 10.3
Power Demand MW 160 166 173 184 193 197 201
Energy Demand MWh 735,309 794,345 862,419 931,258 1,005,759 1,060,702 1,096,275
Customer growth p/a %                8.87 1 15.7 8 19.9 1 13
Energy Demand Growth rate 5 8 9 8   5 3
Power Demand Growth rate 7.2 3,7 4 6   2 2
Revenue growth rate 7.79 13 9.4 7 25.28 9 6