Senegal coverage

What the Senegal numbers mean

Two numbers matter and only one of them is the one every seller quotes. The typical speed, 29 Mbps, tells you what a good moment looks like.

The tenth percentile, 6 Mbps, is the one that matters. It is the speed in the worst tenth of the day, when the cell above the station is full and everybody around you is on it too. A country with a high median and a low floor is a country that works beautifully right up until the moment you actually need it.

If the trip depends on video calls or tethering, plan around the busy figure rather than the typical one.

What happens in Senegal when the network is busy

Congestion is not a fault, it is a Tuesday evening. The question is what your eSIM can do about it, and for most travel eSIMs the answer is nothing: one wholesale agreement per country, one network, and no way out except buying a second eSIM from somebody else while standing in the street.

Here, Orbislo traffic runs over Orange and Free. When the network you are on degrades we move you to another one, mid trip, without you asking, and tell you afterwards rather than interrupting you at the time.

Mobile operators in Senegal

• Orange (Sonatel): Orange, operated by Sonatel, held 55.17 percent of Senegal's 24.8 million active mobile lines at 30 June 2026, according to the regulator ARTP. About 24.4 million of those lines are prepaid.
• Yas: Yas, the former Free network, held 24.35 percent of mobile lines at 30 June 2026 and had gained share in every quarter over the previous year, up from 22.92 percent in June 2025.
• Expresso: Expresso held 14.95 percent of mobile lines at 30 June 2026. The virtual operator Promobile had 5.40 percent and Hayo 0.12 percent.
• Orange (Sonatel): Sonatel paid 100 billion CFA francs in 2016 to renew its licence for 17 years, including 32 billion for the extension to 4G.
• Expresso: Expresso's operating licence had been due to expire in 2027. A decree of 20 March 2024, days before the presidential election, extended it by ten years, a renewal that a government review later called unjustified.
• Orange (Sonatel): The Sonatel group, present in Senegal, Mali, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau and Sierra Leone, reported 43 million customers at 30 June 2026 and said it aims to bring fibre within reach of about 13 million people in Senegal by the end of December 2026.

5G in Senegal

• In the 2023 5G tender the base lot was 10 MHz at 700 MHz plus 70 MHz at 3.5 GHz, with a reserve price of 19.5 billion CFA francs. Sonatel was the only compliant bidder and took 10 MHz at 700 MHz and 120 MHz at 3.5 GHz for 34.5 billion.
• Decrees signed on 18 April and 28 May 2025 withdrew the 5G frequency approvals later granted to Expresso and to Yas, after a government review found those awards had bypassed the tender and fell below its reserve price.
• Sonatel started a commercial 5G pilot on 6 March 2024 under the Orange brand, beginning with fixed 5G broadband for homes and businesses before mobile offers.
• Orange launched mobile 5G on 8 June 2024 with 176 sites across six cities, and said it planned to extend 5G to the whole Dakar region by the end of 2024. A 5G-compatible phone is needed to use it.

Network notes for Senegal

• During the Grand Magal of Touba in August 2026 the regulator drive-tested calls on the A2 and RN3 pilgrim routes and in Touba and Mbacké. Orange completed 99.03 percent of call attempts, Yas 93.81 percent and Expresso 90.72 percent, against a 96 percent threshold.
• On the first day of the Magal tests, on the roads into Touba, 28.23 percent of Expresso call attempts were blocked, against the regulator's 2 percent ceiling. Orange's blocking rate over the four days was 0.85 percent.
• 3G still carries traffic alongside 4G and 5G: for the 2026 Gamou pilgrimage Orange raised 3G+ capacity by 29 percent in Tivaouane and ran 64 3G sites around Kaolack, together with 16 5G sites.
• Sonatel commissioned the 2Africa submarine cable at its Senegal landing station in December 2025 and announced it operational in February 2026. The 45,000 km system links 33 countries across Africa, Europe and Asia.