Telecommunications market in Algeria is undergoing an evolution, particularly in fixed telephony; the latter has grown both in terms of service quality and number of subscribers since the year 2000.
The evolution of the subscribers number to fixed telephony in Algeria tends, in the last three years, to stability with more than three million subscribers. Moreover in 2017, it was decided to eliminate the fixed wireless telephony technology (WLL). This is consistent with the government's strategy to provide these areas with a more efficient communication infrastructure.
In 2017, the density of fixed telephony reached 7.50%, compared to 8.26% in 2016;this drop is due to the citizen’s approach to the mobile phone.
Residential subscribers in fixed telephony, which number accounted for 87.66% of total subscribers in 2017, have always dominated subscriptions to fixed telephony. The number of professional fixed-line subscriptions is down slightly, due to the trend towards mobile technology.
The fixed network penetration rate for households decreased in 2017 to reach 35.76%, due to the trend towards mobile technology.
The mobile phone market has been opened to competition in Algeria following the enactment of the general law n ° 2000-03 of August 5th, 2000 that defines the general rules of the post office and telecommunications. There are currently three mobile phone operators performing on the Algerian market.
Mobile phone services in Algeria have improved significantly. Indeed, the rate of the population covered by the mobile network exceeded 98% in 2017, which justifies, in part, the subscribers’ number which keeps rising to reach around 49.87 million in 2017 compared to 47.04 million subscribers in 2016, i.e. a 6.06% increase.
In Algeria, the 3G mobile phone service was launched in December 2013. 308,019 subscribers were recorded in just one month; this figure has increased twenty seven (27) fold in 2014, and has reached more than 23 million subscribers in 2017.
As part of the modernization and deployment of the telecommunications network nationwide, and the digital economy’s trend, the Minister of Post, Telecommunications, Technology and Digitalization had officially launched Saturday, October 1st, 2016 from Ouargla the fourth generation (4G) mobile telephony in Algeria.
After one year, 10,968,492 subscribers were registered, including 87.95% subscriptions in prepaid mode..
Indicators | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Number of 3G mobile phone subscriptions | / | 308 019 | 8 509 053 | 16 684 561 | 25 214 732 | 23701023 |
Number of 4G mobile phone subscriptions | / | / | / | / | 1 464 811 | 10968495 |
Penetration rate to mobile networks | 99.28% | 102,40 % | 109,62 % | 107,40 % | 113,35% | 121.05% |
As regards the distribution of market shares among operators, the order has not changed over the years. For mobile telephony, the operator Orascom Telecom Algeria held in 2017 the major share with 39.69%, followed by Algeria Telecom Mobilis and Wataniya Telecom Algeria respectively. As for the 3G and 4G market, Algeria Telecom Mobilis is the leader with 48.12% and 36.54% shares respectively.
Indicators: passive infrastructure | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Length of the optical fiber (KM) | 46 231 | 50 800 | 61 556 | 70 700 | 76.514,56 | 81872 |
Number of communes connected to the Fiber Optic (FO) | 1 000 | 1 081 | 1 229 | 1 321 | 1 477 | 1541 |
National Internet bandwidth in Mbit / s | 130 000 | 172 021 | 348 000 | 1 390 000 | / | 801000 |
International Internet bandwidth in Mbit / s | 104 448 | 166 000 | 278 000 | 485 155 | 630 150 | 810155 |
Indicators: Internet Subscribers | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
ADSL subscribers | 1 283 241 | 1 518 629 | 1 838 492 | 2 083 114 | 2246727 |
4G fixed LTE | -- | 80 693 | 423 280 | 775 792 | 919368 |
WIMAX | 179 | 216 | 233 | 661 | 621 |
3G mobile | 308 019 | 8 509 053 | 18 021 881 | 25 214 732 | 23701023 |
4G mobile | -- | -- | -- | 1 464 811 | 10968495 |
Fixed internet (ADSL +4G LTE fixed+ WIMAX) | 1 283 420 | 1 599 538 | 2 262 005 | 2 859 567 | 3166907 |
Mobile internet (3G+4G) | 308 019 | 8 509 053 | 18 021 881 | 26 679 543 | 34669518 |
Total internet subscribers (Fixed and Mobile) | 1 591 439 | 10 108 591 | 20 283 886 | 29 539 110 | 37836425 |
Indicators: subscribers by debit | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
128K | 15 001 | 7 497 | 2 608 | 1 318 | 265 | 0 |
256K | 252 303 | 158 181 | 48 599 | 26 048 | 14 168 | 0 |
512K | 495 289 | 589 042 | 92 843 | 56 847 | 39 324 | 0 |
1M | 381 180 | 511 386 | 832 535 | 990 988 | 1 050 288 | 1069377 |
2M | 9 473 | 13 997 | 523 547 | 728 009 | 917 808 | 107434 |
2,3M | 807 | 1 003 | 1 617 | 1 677 | 1 500 | 1080 |
3M | 5 | 11 | -- | -- | -- | 1 |
4M | 483 | 1 465 | 10 631 | 24 522 | 47 067 | 84488 |
7M | 8 | 10 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
8M | 185 | 602 | 6 050 | 8 805 | 11 703 | 15288 |
10M | 7 | 18 | 1 | 531 | 1 | 1 |
20M | 5 | 28 | 195 | 531 | 972 | 1656 |
24M up to less than 100 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 531 | 1 | 1 |
Total | 1 154 748 | 1 283 241 | 1 518 629 | 1 838 746 | 2 083 098 | 2246727 |
Indicators | 2015 | 2016 |
---|---|---|
Number of sites web.dz | 7148 | 9162 |
Number of institutional websites (ministries and related organisms) | 587 | 587 |
Number of available application forms | 265 | / |
Number of available online procedures | 29 | 30 |
Indicators | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 |
---|---|---|---|
Number of KMS | 24786 | 24065 | -- |
Number of internet cafe | -- | 5548 | 6643 |
Number of call center | 164 | 69 | 86 |
Audiotex | 07 | 08 | 08 |
ISP | 20 | 23 | 29 |
VoIP operator | 03 | 03 | 03 |
GMPCS | 30 | 03 | 02 |
VSAT | 03 | 03 | 03 |
Fixed telephony | 01 | 01 | 01 |
GSM mobile phone | 03 | 03 | 03 |
3G mobile | 03 | 03 | 03 |