Madagascar - Telecoms, Mobile and Broadband - Statistics and Analyses

Madagascar - Telecoms, Mobile and Broadband - Statistics and Analyses

Madagascar sees increase in fixed broadband subscriber base Over the years, Madagascar has proved to be a difficult environment for fixed ISPs. Of the nine which were licensed initially, at least four soon went out of business. High subscription costs put internet access beyond the reach of much of the population, and as a result most users gained access at work, cybercafes, public internet access centres, or telecentres. The sector is highly concentrated, with about four-fifths of subscribers being in the capital city. DSL services were launched in 2005, and soon afterwards the World Bank provided funds to help improve internet connectivity as part of a wider regional communications infrastructure program, which aimed to improve international links to countries in eastern and southern Africa. Madagascar was included in the first phase of the project, together with Kenya and Burundi. The arrival of two international submarine cables to Madagascar in 2009 and 2010 reduced the cost of international bandwidth, while the rollout of Telma’s national fibre backbone network more than halved the retail price of internet services. These price reductions are expected to continue during the next few years. Following on from the IOX cable coming on-stream in early 2019, the METISS cable was lit in 2021, and the Africa-1 cable will provide further redundancy and help reduce access pricing when it comes into service in 2023. The poor quality of the copper network was a major problem for DSL services, which encouraged the rollout of fibre based broadband. In terms of subscriber numbers, fibre overtook DSL in 2018. Since then the number of DSL subscribers has become negligible, while fibre has grown strongly.