Senegalese operator Expresso has been granted a 4G licence by the country’s regulator ARTP (L’Autorite de Regulation des Telecommunications et des Postes).
TeleGeography reports that the deal was agreed following a meeting between Senegalese President Macky Sall and Magdi Taha, Chairman and CEO of Expresso’s parent firm, Sudatel Group. The agreement will see the remit of Expresso’s licence expanded to cover 4G services for the remainder of its validity period.
Announcing the move, the ARTP said: “After several months of negotiations, the ARTP and the operator Expresso Senegal, a subsidiary of Sudatel Group, have reached an agreement for the deployment of the 4G licence in Senegal as soon as possible.”
The operator, which is the country’s third largest by subscriber numbers, was aiming to launch commercial 4G on 31st March 2020 but delayed this as a result of the pandemicst March 2020 but delayed this as a result of the pandemic – pushing it further behind its rivals Orange and Free, which have respectively been providing 4G services since July 2018 and October 2019.
