The Ivorian telecommunications sector generated over 1000 billion CFA francs in 2002
Posted by African Press International on May 23, 2007
Abidjan (Côte d’Ivoire) The Ivorian telecommunications sector generated over 1000 billion CFA francs in 2002 when a crisis struck the country, APA learnt on Monday.
The revelation was by Michel Loukou Kouadio, the chairman of the Union nationale des entreprises de télécommunication en Côte d’Ivoire (National Union of Telecommunication Companies in Cote d’Ivoire – UNETEL).
Even the crisis rocking Cote d’Ivoire since 19 September 2002 could not frustrate this performance, Kouadio said at the opening of the eighth “National Information and Communication Technologies Days, JNTIC 2007”, which end on Tuesday.
Prime Minister Guillaume Soro chaired the ceremony in the presence of International Telecommunications Union chairman Hamadou Toure of Mali, who is on his maiden official visit in Africa since being elected to lead the UN specialised body.
This year’s edition’s theme is “Connecting youths – what possibilities are offered by the NTIC ?”.
Kouadio said with an estimated national coverage rate of 60 percent, telecoms have allowed 3 million people to communicate during the crisis.
“The telecoms sector is the one that currently has the country’s highest growth rate,” Ivorian New Information and Communication Technologies minister Ahmed Bakayoko reckoned.
He cited four telecoms outfits who made a 305 billion CFA-franc turnover with some 1.5 million subscribers in 2003 to bolster his argument.
Some 4.5 million subscribers were registered this year, accounting for A 200-percent rise and a turnover of 450 billion CFA francs.
Cote d’Ivoire had some 400,000 internet users late last year, the speakers said.
Published by Korir, African Press International, API, africanpress@chello.no tel +47 932 99 739 or +47 6300 2525 source.apa
