Africell Angola, which launched the country’s third commercial mobile network in Luanda on 7 April 2022, has claimed the milestone of five million subscriptions in less than five months of operations. In an interview with London-based Balancing Act, Africell Angola CEO Christopher Lundh gave his reaction to hitting the five million mark, saying: ‘I didn’t expect to see it happen quite so quickly. The reality has exceeded our initial expectations and we now have a better understanding of the dynamics of the market and that it will take a fair bit of investment to realise its potential.’ Elaborating on the headline figure, Mr Lundh disclosed that Africell has at least half a million active mobile data subscriptions, with online social media representing the vast majority of data usage, whilst e-commerce (including popular food delivery services) and Uber ride-hailing also proving popular alongside music and video streaming ‘focused on the higher-end youth market’.
The CEO continued: ‘Our network is 100% Nokia and it’s over-engineered to ensure minimal latency for our customers. We are not just going for high-end corporates but also competing in mass-market areas. Generally speaking, things work and all our current sites are all connected to the grid.’ Commenting on the previous lack of market competitiveness displayed by Angola’s two established mobile operators Unitel and Movicel, Lundh stated: ‘Prices have been very high for both calling prices and handset costs.’
Africell’s commercial network coverage remains limited to Luanda but it is in the process of expanding its 2G/3G/4G mobile services to more locations – with launches in Benguela and Lobito imminent ahead of a full-scale national rollout. Regarding fibre backbone deployment, the executive noted that Africell will ‘put in fibre where we need it and can’t co-locate with others. There’s no need to reinvent the wheel when we can use other fibre operators.’
Lundh also highlighted that the company will roll out 5G services but initially limited to high-end business and residential areas of Luanda and its surrounds. As reported on the Africell group site, Africell Angola demoed 5G network technology at the FILDA trade fair in the capital on 16 July 2022.