Key Pathways
were meant to improve the competitiveness of the sector, but they mainly favored established operators. Limited access to and poor quality of digital connectivity continue to hamper Chad’s ability to attract private investors to the telecommunications sector. To expand the telecommunications network, the authorities should consider the following: • Opening the international gateway to competition, removing legal barriers to the creation of additional international gateways, and laying and using fiber cables to improve the quality and reach of telecommunication services. This reform will require ensuring a level playing field between private operators and the state-owned provider, as well as the creation of a procompetition regulatory framework to enable the development of mobile money services that could strengthen financial inclusion and facilitate the inflow of remittances from abroad. The government could also promote contestability (that is, enabling the entry of a third mobile network operator) by (a) issuing wholesale broadband licenses; (b) issuing licenses for independent tower operators; (c) allowing internet service providers to be facilities based, including allocating spectrum for fixed wireless access; and (d) introducing specialized universal service operators. It should also institutionalize mobile money as a means of payment (for example, for the payment of taxes, bills, fines, or merchandise) and receiving social cash transfers or salaries. The authorities need to review taxation in the sector and strengthen the local regulator through a comprehensive regulatory technical assistance program. • Granting licenses to designated universal service operators, which is expected to increase mobile network investment in rural areas, increasing the availability of mobile internet services for both households and businesses. The increase in licenses was expected to increase the geographic coverage of mobile broadband networks from 30 percent in 2019 to 45 percent by 2021. Moreover, enabling end users to switch providers and broadband operators to create mobile internet infrastructure would increase competition and reduce network rollout costs. This cost reduction would increase the service affordability and uptake of mobile internet. As a result, the number of unique mobile internet subscribers was expected to increase from 15 percent in 2019 to 20 percent in 2021.
PROMOTE DIVERSIFICATION AND SECTORS WITH JOBS POTENTIAL Weak productivity and social return on economic activities in rural areas and low access to formal employment are key binding constraints on economic growth and poverty reduction. Chad could address these constraints by promoting sectors with a strategic advantage—such as agriculture, livestock, light manufacturing, digital economy, green economy, and microfinance sector—with a view to enhance economic opportunities in peripheral, conflict-affected, and at-risk areas. These sectors satisfy the following criteria: (a) revealed comparative advantage (RCA),9 (b) potential trajectory of global demand, (c) employment elasticity, and (d) prospects for domestic value addition and economic diversification. The current and potential impact of climate change is also important in determining the strategic advantage of products and sectors. Chad boasts considerable opportunities for private sector investment in sectors that can drive
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