Sudan: Untapped Potential

Sudan is the third largest African country and its has tremendous potential in so many sectors. However due to the effects of having lost much of its oil reserves to South Sudan which seceded in 2011, some domestic volatility and social unrest; the economy has performed poorly in recent years. As a consequence the telecoms market has shrunk: The number of mobile phone subscribers in the Sudan dropped to 27.9 million in 2016 from 28.3 million in 2015 and the number of internet users declined to 9.9 million subscribers from 11.4 million. There were 9 million smartphone users as of Q1 2017.

However the estimated market penetration rates in the Sudanese telecom sector are still encouraging: 77% for the mobile market, 30% for the internet market, and 1.1% for the landline market. Mobile internet is also thriving. The number of internet cafes in the state of Khartoum has decreased noticeably since the early 2000s as mobile internet has become cheaper and more accessible to the public.

Sudan might have been one of the last African countries to introduce mobile telephony, in 1997, but the growth rate since entering the market has been one of the fastest in Africa. As the mobile sector has expanded even further since, operators have rolled out highly advanced networks. Sudan now has one of the most well equipped telecommunications infrastructures in the region, including a national fiber-optic backbone and international fiber-optic connections. 

Sudatel is the biggest telecommunications and internet service provider in Sudan. Established in 1994 as a public company, the government owns just over 20% while private companies own the remainder. Its shares have been traded on several Middle Eastern stock markets. Sudatel operates landlines as well as GSM mobile,and Sudani is the mobile arm of Sudatel Group. 

It is a mobile and broadband service provider for consumers and businesses in Sudan, and was the first telecom company in the country to deploy a 3.75G service — called SudaniOne.



Sudatel ended 2016 with a mobile subscriber base of twelve million. Commenting on the results, CEO Tarig Hamza Zain Alabdain said: ‘Sudatel began to reap the fruits of its investments in infrastructure, especially the broadband fibre-optic networks across Sudan which will go a long way in supporting Sudatel’s effort in reinforcing the data and information technology revolution through current and expected broadband connections until 2020.’

Sudatel's 2020 Strategy focuses on transforming from a traditional telecom operator to becoming an ICT provider.

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Sudatel Telecom Group and Liquid Telecom are also to build new FTTH networks across Sudan.

The partnership will increase the broadband capacity and speeds available to homes and businesses in Sudan, which are currently reliant on wireless networks to access the Internet.

Leveraging Liquid Telecom’s experience in deploying high-speed networks, Sudatel will build FTTH networks in Sudan designed to the highest network standards and using the latest technologies.

Another key player is Zain Sudan, formerly Mobitel Sudan, it is now the second biggest mobile telephone network operator by subscribers in the Sudan with more than 11 million customers. 2G coverage is found in populated areas and 3G in towns.The company is introducing 4G in Sudan throughout 2016, and is one of the biggest telecommunications operators across the Middle East and North Africa. 


Zain was awarded a 4G/LTE license by local regulator NTC in February 2016. Later that year it has become the first operator to launch LTE services. 4G network coverage can be found across the capital Khartoum, Medani, Port Sudan and El Obeid to reach around 20% of the population. Almost 300 4G sites have already been switched on, spreading to 21 towns and cities by 2017.

MTN Sudan is a subsidiary of the South African MTN Group, a provider of communication services and it is operational in Africa and the Middle East. MTN Sudan offers mobile phone and data services to the Sudanese market and covers 99% of populated areas in Sudan. 

MTN Sudan based in South Africa is the smallest provider of the trio with more than 3 million customers. 

Iraq: Efforts at Recovery

The political unrest, civil war and violence in Iraq has battered the telecommunications sector and created a very challenging environment for mobile operators.  The unstable economy combined with a decrease in consumer spending – along with the destruction of telecoms infrastructure; has resulted in declining mobile subscriber rates and revenues.


However the Iraqi telecom market made a recovery starting in 2016, and is forecast to reach 34 million subscribers by 2017, exceeding its 2014 pre-Daesh level, according to GlobalData.

The three mobile network operators which hold national licences are Zain Iraq, Asiacell and Korek Telecom.

Zain is the largest mobile phone operator in Kuwait but also has operations in Bahrain, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia and Sudan and manages a unit in Morocco. Zain Iraq is the largest mobile operator in Iraq by subscribers that amount to 13.7 million by end of 2017. The company is headquartered in Baghdad and covers 97% of the Iraqi population nationally. 3G services were first launched by Zain in 2015, followed by the other mobile operators, all using the 2100 MHz band. LTE services have been deployed in northern Iraq in the 1800 MHz band by Alcatel-Lucent and Regional Telecom.

A deal has been made with Nokia who will modernize and expand Zain Iraq's 3G and 2G networks with a special focus on the holy cities of Karbala and Najaf, to support the expected increase in data and voice traffic during Zeyara/pilgrimage as millions of people converge on the region.

Zain Iraq has also been instrumental in rebuilding the network infrastructure and ensuring that the newly liberated regions of Anbar and Mosul receive the best data coverage in terms of 3G.

Korek Telecom: Korek, in which Orange has a stake, started operating in 2000, earlier than any other operator in Iraq. It has had an Iraq-wide licence since 2007 and its network is nationwide was reported as of January 2016 to employ about 2,500 people, to have deployed 3,500 towers and to be serving 7 million subscribers, giving it just over 20% of an estimated national Iraqi subscriptions base of about 34 million and showing a roughly doubled market share since 2011. Korek has some advantages, i.e. a relatively secure base in Kurdistan, where it has been reported to have a 70% share, and a good relationship with the local government, which now has an assured income from its 17% share of national oil revenue. Through further market share gains, Iraqi national growth, diversification into markets like banking and social stabilisation, as well as the lack of fixed infrastructure in Iraq, it is possible that Korek could double in size in the next five years. 

Asiacell claims nearly 12.5 million customers with a network that covers 99.06% of the Iraqi population. Asiacell was the first mobile telecommunications provider in Iraq to achieve nationwide coverage, offering its services across all of Iraq’s 19 governorates including the national capital Baghdad and all other major Iraqi cities. 

Asiacell is also claims to be the best internet provider with its 3.9G data services, offering the best network coverage in the entire of Iraq since January 2015.

Future challenges development: 

Despite the challenges there is high international interest in the Iraqi market with its potential to recover economically pinned on its large oil and natural gas reserves. Iraq offers much potential for telecoms infrastructure development with many under-served areas requiring better coverage and/or reconstruction. There will also be opportunities in developing both 3G and 4G deployment, with early signs that mobile data revenues are already increasing on the back of existing 3G networks.

Prior to the more recent unrest 4G LTE had been deployed in some areas of Iraq and there was also a progressive fibre optic network underway across parts of the country. While it is unknown how widespread the damage to this infrastructure has been, the country is still moving forward with the Ministry of Communications (MoC) recently launching a Fibre-to-The-Home project. This will see an initial 90,000 lines deployed across selected governates.

Overall the current security situation is severely and negatively impacting telecommunications development in Iraq. However, there are positive signs for a future of improvement, stability and reconstruction.