Senegal was among the first countries to initiate reform in the
telecommunications sector. In 1984, the government initiated reform by
reorganising the telecommunications sector by merging domestic and
international telecommunications and separating postal services. The following
year Société Nationale des Télécommunications du
Senegal (SONATEL) was incorporated as a government-owned company to run both
international and domestic telecommunications. With the new-found freedom of
operation, Sonatel has rapidly expanded the network around the following
focused programmes:
- Development of the domestic network (1985 - 1992); and
- Upgrade of international telephone network and the increase network
capacity in Dakar (1992-1995).
Since the establishment of Sonatel, Senegal has returned better indicators
in terms of increased teledensity, faults clearance, operational efficiency
than other countries in sub-Saharan Africa.
In 1996, the government announced a new law that laid the basis for the
privatisation of the telecommunications. The basic law provided for:
- Opening up of Sonatel’s capital to private, foreign and national
partners and to Sonatel’s staff; and
- Liberalisation of some segments of the telecommunications market.
Against this basis, Sonatel was partially privatised and a 33.33% stake
taken over by France Telecom in a deal worth US$122 million. Two years later,
an international competitive tender for the second GSM licence was announced
and won by Millicom international. The increased privatisation has invigorated
the telecommunications sector, with private sector capital playing a
significant role in its development in all sectors, including Internet
services.
Despite the early move to liberalise the sector, this has not changed the
overall sector structure. The Ministry of Communications continues to oversee
both regulation and policy function, despite a commitment under WTO to set up a
separate regulator by December 31 1997. Sector regulation is under a unit
within the Ministry of Communications.
