CONTEXT
The State of Côte d’Ivoire, in its effort to liberalize the telecommunications sector and ensure a competitive market, has to date granted a total of seven (7) licenses to operators for the provision of mobile telephony services throughout the Ivorian territory.
Two decades after the sector’s liberalization and following an analysis of the market environment, the State, aiming to revitalize the Telecommunications/ICT market, particularly the mobile telephony segment, and to optimize the use of spectral resources, has decided to issue global-type licenses in the future, limited to four.
Consequently, the Government has decided to consolidate the market through measures including:
– the renewal of licenses for operators currently active and compliant with all their contractual obligations towards the Regulatory Authority and the State;
– granting a license to an operator capable of actively contributing to the development of the Ivorian telecommunications market.
OBJECTIVES
– General Objective
In general, this project will assist the State of Côte d’Ivoire in transforming the current landscape into a truly competitive market benefiting users and the sector. It will contribute to:
– revitalizing the telecommunications services market in general, and the mobile telephony segment in particular, to generate new investments in the telecommunications sector;
– consolidating the mobile telephony sector with four reference operators to ensure healthy competition;
– optimizing the redistribution of spectral resources to promote an increased broadband service offering for all consumers.
– Objectives of the Call for Expression of Interest
The objective of this call for expression of interest is to preselect legal entities interested in operating a telecommunications network to provide all types of services in Côte d’Ivoire, including mobile and fixed telephony, transmission capacities, data, and Internet access. To allow interested and preselected operators, at the end of their expression of interest, to submit, in a second phase, an application file with an offer, a draft terms of reference, which will be annexed to the license covered by this call for expression of interest, can be obtained from the Regulatory Authority for Telecommunications/ICT of Côte d’Ivoire (ARTCI).
TARGETS OF THE CALL FOR EXPRESSION OF INTEREST
This call for expression of interest primarily targets companies that, on their own or with partners, have proven experience in providing telecommunications/ICT services.
CRITERIA FOR EVALUATING PROPOSALS
Preselection of operators wishing to participate in the competition for the license, subject of this call for expression of interest, will be primarily based on the reputation and stated ambitions of the interested parties.
DOCUMENTS REQUIRED FOR THE EXPRESSION OF INTEREST FILE
All documents submitted in response to this call for expression of interest must be entirely written in French and must include the following:
– Detailed identification of the bidder and a presentation of its experience;
– A letter of expression of interest, clearly presenting the bidder’s intentions, concerns, and recommendations;
– Attachments, if applicable, to verify the bidder’s declarations.
SUBMISSION SCHEDULE FOR EXPRESSIONS OF INTEREST
– Responses to this call for expression of interest must be submitted no later than September 30, 2015, to ARTCI via email, accompanied by signed original paper documents.
– The list of preselected candidates will be finalized on October 10, 2015.
– Preselected operators will have one month to finalize their submission.
– Incomplete or late submissions will be rejected.
– Files should be submitted to the following contacts:
Email: courrier@artci.ci and sanogo.bassoumarifou@artci.ci;
Postal address: 18 BP 2203 Abidjan;
ARTCI single-window office located at the ARTCI headquarters in Marcory Anoumabo, Abidjan.
– Requests for information should be addressed to Mr. Sanogo Bassoumarifou;
Email: sanogo.bassoumarifou@artci.ci,
Tel: +(225) 20 34 42 56;
