Telecom Market Liberalisation & Connectivity Subsidies — Union of the Comoros

Starting around 2013, the World Bank supported the Comorian government with policy financing ($22M in 2013, plus $10M in 2018, plus a $4M policy-support grant) to reform a previously monopolistic telecom sector. Comoros passed a new Communications Act (2014), ran an international tender, and awarded a second mobile/telecom licence in 2015.

The new entrant, Telma Comores, launched service in 2016 (backed by a EUR13M IFC loan in 2019) and captured roughly 25% market share within a year, spurring the incumbent Comores Télécoms to deploy a competing 4.5G network. The government also used World Bank support to subsidise broadband access for schools, universities, community associations and local government offices, and Comoros gained new international bandwidth via the FLY-LION3 submarine cable linking it to Madagascar and Mayotte, interconnecting with the EASSy and LION-2 cable systems.

Baseline conditions (circa 2013) were 40% mobile coverage and under 1% broadband penetration; by 2018 the World Bank reported mobile broadband subscriptions had reached 58 per 100 inhabitants. Independent 2023 data (DataReportal, using GSMA/Kepios methodology) put internet penetration at 27.3% (230,500 users) and cellular connections at 60.4% of the population (510,100 connections) — up from the prior year, corroborating continued growth from the reform baseline.

The World Bank's own figures blend several years (2013-2019) and some are dated; the 2023 independent figure of 27.3% internet penetration shows Comoros still starts from a very low base. The 'success' here is primarily about market structure and infrastructure, not yet high absolute connectivity, and no precise public count of subsidised schools/institutions was found.