(Ecofin Agency) - Liquid Telecom announced plans to enter the telecom market in Eritrea. The announcement was recently made on Facebook by Strive Masiyiwa (pictured), who heads Econet Global Ltd, the parent company of Liquid Telecom.

In the Digital 2020 report, We Are Social and Hootsuite reveal that mobile penetration in this country is only 20%. Meaning, out of the 3.52 million inhabitants, only 711,000 people have access to mobile service. The Internet penetration rate is only 8.3%.

Eritrea is currently, after Ethiopia, the last telecoms market in Africa operated solely by the public incumbent company (Eritrea Telecommunications Services Corporation -EriTel). Despite several appeals from the World Bank on the need to liberalize the national telecommunications sector, in view of the definite impact on socio-economic development, the Eritrean government has been slow to open the market to competition.  

Let’s note that the Liquid Telecom officially launched its broadband service in Juba, South Sudan, on February 20.