Beninās newest mobile operator Celtiis, a division of state-owned Beninese Digital Infrastructure Company (Societe Beninoise dāInfrastructures Numeriques [SBIN]), posted on Twitter on 26 February 2023: āOur next generation network is now fully 5G ready. We are actively preparing the pilot phase.ā
TeleGeographyās GlobalComms DatabaseĀ says thatĀ SBINĀ ā managed by Senegalās Sonatel (part of Orange Group) ā commercially launched 2G/3G/4G mobile services on 21 October 2022 under its new Celtiis brand as the countryās third cellco, competing with private sector operatorsĀ MTNĀ Benin and Moov Africa Benin, and claimed 80% national population coverage with its network from launch.
In an announcement earlier this month, Beninās Ministry of Digital and Digitalisation (le Ministere du Numerique et de la Digitalisation [MND]) gave details of its āAgenda for the digital sector and digitisationā for 2023, which includes āthe extension of mobile sites and the 5G pilot phase.ā The ministry declared a total budget of XOF31.08 billion (USD49.95 million) to oversee a range of projects including: extension of mobile coverage in rural areas and the establishment of community digital points in eligible municipalities that currently lack them; new training curricula for digital professions; development of AI and data management applications useful to national programmes; continued implementation of āSmart Govā projects; implementation of digital transformation of local authorities; and several media sector projects.
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