Senegal is accelerating its push toward universal connectivity. In his latest address to the nation, President of the Republic of Senegal, Bassirou Diomaye Faye, announced a major program to deploy satellite antennas throughout 2026.
The program unveiled by the Senegalese president is expected to contribute to free Internet access for nearly one million people. This is what President Bassirou Diomaye Faye promised while addressing the Senegalese people.
This new measure is expected to primarily benefit rural areas and underserved peripheral neighborhoods with limited telecommunications network coverage.
According to the Global System for Mobile Communications Association (GSMA), Senegal has near-universal 4G coverage, reaching 97% of the population, while 5G covers around 39%, mainly in major urban centers.
Out of a population of approximately 18 million, about 9.9 million people use mobile services, representing nearly 52% of the total population. Only 8.16 million Senegalese use high-speed mobile internet, accounting for about 42% of the population.
The choice of satellite antennas addresses a simple constraint: connecting the entire territory via fiber optics takes time and is costly, reports WeAreTechAfrica.
Recent solutions, driven by low-Earth-orbit satellite constellations, promise faster deployment, including in hard-to-reach areas. For now, no details have been provided on how these antennas will be used. However, the real impact of the internet service they promise suggests several possible applications.
