Algeria’s Telecom Regulation: How ARPCE Governs Spectrum, Licensing, and Competition

ARPCE: The Regulator Behind Algeria’s Connectivity

ARPCE (Autorité de Régulation de la Poste et des Communications Electroniques) is the entity that determines what nearly 47.5 million Algerians can access on their phones, how much they pay for it, and which companies are allowed to provide it. Originally established as ARPT under Law 2000-03 on telecommunications, the authority was reorganized and renamed under Law 18-04 of May 10, 2018, which repealed the earlier law and expanded the regulator’s mandate to cover all electronic communications. ARPCE holds regulatory authority over spectrum allocation, operator licensing, interconnection pricing, quality-of-service enforcement, and competition oversight in Algeria’s telecom sector.

The authority operates with a degree of institutional independence — its budget is drawn from regulatory fees levied on operators rather than direct government appropriation, and its board members serve fixed terms. In practice, ARPCE’s independence is constrained by the Ministry of Post and Telecommunications, which retains policy-setting authority and has historically intervened in politically sensitive decisions, including 3G and 4G license timing and the 5G licensing process.

Algeria’s telecom market is served by over 54 million mobile connections — equivalent to approximately 116% of the population — spread across the three licensed operators: Mobilis (state-owned, part of Groupe Telecom Algerie), Djezzy (100% state-owned through the Fonds National d’Investissement since VEON completed its exit in August 2022), and Ooredoo Algeria (subsidiary of Qatar’s Ooredoo Group). Fixed-line and internet services are dominated by Algerie Telecom, also part of Groupe Telecom Algerie. ARPCE’s regulatory decisions directly shape this market — from the price of a gigabyte of mobile data to whether a fourth operator will ever be licensed.

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Spectrum Allocation and the 5G Milestone

Spectrum is the most valuable resource ARPCE controls, and how it allocates radio frequencies determines the pace of Algeria’s digital infrastructure development. Algeria’s spectrum assignments include 900 MHz and 1800 MHz bands for 2G/3G, and 1800 MHz for 4G LTE (with operators licensed in 2016). The country’s 4G coverage has expanded to over 80% of the population, though geographic coverage — particularly in the vast southern regions — remains significantly lower.

The 5G spectrum licensing process was the most consequential regulatory action ARPCE undertook in 2025. After years of planning and a roadmap announced by the Ministry of Post and Telecommunications, ARPCE awarded 5G licenses to all three mobile operators in July 2025. The combined cost of the licenses was approximately $492 million (DZD 63.9 billion): Mobilis paid DZD 22.2 billion (~$170.7 million), Ooredoo paid DZD 21 billion (~$161.6 million), and Djezzy paid DZD 20.7 billion (~$159.2 million). The licenses are valid for 15 years, running from November 20, 2025 to November 20, 2040, with renewal possible in five-year increments.

The key spectrum allocations center on the 3.5 GHz mid-band, with operators receiving 100 MHz blocks for 5G coverage. Mobilis also secured 70 MHz in the 2.6 GHz TDD band. Commercial 5G was officially launched on December 3, 2025, at a ceremony at the Abdelatif-Rahal International Conference Center in Algiers, with deployment beginning in eight pilot wilayas including Algiers, Oran, Constantine, and Setif. License conditions include binding coverage milestones, with a mandate for nationwide coverage by 2031. Mobilis network trials in February 2025 demonstrated speeds of up to 1.2 Gbps.

The 5G licensing process revealed a fundamental tension in ARPCE’s mandate. The government viewed the licenses as a revenue opportunity, while operators had to weigh the investment against Algeria’s relatively low mobile ARPU. The precedent from 3G licensing — delayed from approximately 2008 until December 2013, due to a combination of bureaucratic hurdles, the protracted Djezzy ownership dispute, and insufficient political will — underscored the risk that regulatory hesitation poses to infrastructure development. That Algeria completed the 5G licensing and launched commercial service within 2025 represents a departure from the delays that characterized earlier technology transitions.

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Competition, Interconnection, and the MVNO Gap

Algeria’s three-operator mobile market structure has been stable since Ooredoo (then Nedjma, a subsidiary of Kuwait’s Wataniya Telecom) was licensed in late 2003 and launched commercial operations in August 2004. Market shares have remained broadly balanced, with each operator commanding roughly one-third of the market. This stability raises a legitimate question — is the Algerian market genuinely competitive, or is it a comfortable oligopoly where three operators have settled into equilibrium?

ARPCE sets interconnection rates — the fees operators charge each other for terminating calls on their networks — which are a critical lever for competition. Algeria’s mobile termination rates have been on a downward trajectory, following a glide path ARPCE established to align with international trends. Lower MTRs benefit smaller operators and new entrants by reducing the cost of connecting to larger networks. However, with no fourth operator on the horizon and no MVNO (Mobile Virtual Network Operator) licensing framework in place, the competitive pressure these lower rates are meant to enable has limited practical effect.

The MVNO question is particularly revealing. MVNOs — companies that offer mobile services using existing operators’ infrastructure without owning spectrum — operate in over 80 countries and serve as a mechanism for increasing competition, driving down prices, and enabling niche market segments. Tunisia has had MVNOs active since approximately 2015, with operators like Lycamobile and Asel Mobile building small but growing subscriber bases. Morocco has a small number of MVNOs operating on Inwi’s infrastructure. Algeria has neither an MVNO regulatory framework nor any public indication that ARPCE is developing one. The absence of MVNOs means the Algerian consumer has exactly three choices for mobile service — all offering broadly similar pricing, similar coverage, and similar data packages. Without structural reforms to licensing, ARPCE’s competition mandate remains aspirational.

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Regional Comparison: ARPCE vs. ANRT vs. INTT

Comparing ARPCE with its Maghreb counterparts — Morocco’s ANRT (Agence Nationale de Réglementation des Télécommunications) and Tunisia’s INTT (Instance Nationale des Télécommunications) — reveals a more nuanced picture than simple rankings might suggest.

ANRT has invested significantly in public data initiatives. It publishes quarterly market analyses covering subscriber numbers, revenue, and market shares in both French and English, and has launched an open data portal making telecom indicators accessible for research. On the other hand, ANRT has not published an annual report since 2018, according to Freedom House assessments, and its board head is appointed by the king, raising questions about operational independence. ANRT’s 5G auction in July 2025 generated approximately $210 million in spectrum revenue from three operators.

ARPCE publishes limited market data with significant delays. Its observatory reports on mobile telephony and internet markets cover quarterly data but lack the granularity of ANRT’s public releases. Quality-of-service data — network speeds, call drop rates, detailed coverage maps — is not publicly available in the depth that would enable independent assessment. Tunisia’s INTT falls between the two in data availability, with regular market monitoring but more limited English-language reporting.

On regulatory scope, both ANRT and INTT have moved faster than ARPCE in addressing emerging telecom issues. Tunisia has allowed MVNOs to operate and has been developing its approach to new technology licensing. Morocco’s regulatory environment, while imperfect, has enabled antitrust action against Maroc Telecom for abuse of dominance — a type of enforcement action ARPCE has not publicly undertaken. As Algeria rolls out 5G and moves toward IoT and smart city deployments, the absence of regulatory frameworks for these emerging domains at ARPCE will become a bottleneck. ARPCE’s mandate is broad enough to address these issues — the constraint is institutional capacity and political will, not legal authority.

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Sources & Further Reading

• ARPCE Official Website — About the Authority
• Law 18-04 on Electronic Communications — ARPCE Regulation
• Algeria Awards 5G Licenses to Three Operators for Nearly $492 Million — Ecofin Agency
• Algeria Concludes 5G Spectrum Auction — Spectrum Tracker
• 5G Officially Launched in Algeria — AL24 News
• Algeria Launches 5G Rollout — Connecting Africa
• VEON Completes the Sale of Djezzy, Receiving $682 Million — VEON
• Algeria Telecom Operators Intelligence Report 2025 — GlobeNewsWire
• Morocco Awards 5G Licences — Developing Telecoms
• ANRT Morocco — Annual Reports
• Morocco: Freedom on the Net 2024 — Freedom House
• ITU ICT Regulatory Tracker — Algeria Country Profile
• ARPCE Observatory — Mobile Telephony Market Q4 2024
• Algeria 3G History — Oxford Business Group