Africa-Press – Angola. Africell’s telecommunications services will reach the country’s 18 provinces within the next three years, the company’s director for Strategy, Gonçalo Farias.
In recent statements, on the sidelines of a forum on digital transformation, Gonçalo Farias said that, at that time, in addition to Luanda, Benguela and Lobito, they already had the signal in the province of Cuanza Sul, but they preferred not to publish it due to lack of stability and breadth.
He added that the Africell signal will reach Lubango, capital of Huíla province, in the first half of 2023.
Returning to the question why the operator takes so long to cover its network throughout the country, Gonçalo Farias said that the problem is not financial, but related to works, licensing and installation of equipment (…).
“We have to carry out works in all provinces, we have to import material, install, optimize, license and test. All this work takes time and the delay has nothing to do with the financial issue”, explained the interlocutor.
At other times, the administrator detailed, the problem has to do with the capacity to guarantee that the manufacturers supply us with the necessary material within the foreseen deadlines, in a context in which there is a very great demand for telecommunications equipment all over the world.
He explained that they are sometimes contradicted, also, in the clearance of logistics at the port or customs area, which plays tricks when containers are detained.
However, he said he did not understand the reason for the pressure from the press and customers to want coverage of the country now, given that Unitel took three years to extend beyond Luanda and six years to have national coverage, said the interviewee, underlining that Africell has less than a year to operate.
In the view of Gonçalo Farias, the most important thing for the press would be to look at the market, to know if there is competition and imbalances. “The telecommunications market is growing well”, he concluded.
On the other hand, asked whether Africell depended on the infrastructure of its competitor Unitel, administrator Gonçalo said no, but shares the network with TVCabo.
Currently, one of the hottest issues between the two telephone operators in the Angolan market is the extinction of the 2G and 3G network, a proposal by Unitel, opposed by Africell, as it understands that the digitization of the market does not depend on the issue of handset prices cell phone.
Unitel defends that the digitalization of the market involves the elimination of the 2G and 3G network, which allows the use of button cell phones – cheaper, for 4G, but Africell understands that the barrier to digitalization has to do with the way the country’s legislation is made, its compatibility with the generation of codes for access to automation and simple use.
The mobile telephony market in Angola is led by Unitel with at least 12 million customers, while Africell has approximately five million, followed by Movicel with 1.5 million.
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