Algeria joins the growing list of MENA markets that now offer 5G, with three licences granted
Algeria’s telemedia market has received a big boost from the granting of three 5G licences buy the country’s Ministry of Post and Telecommunications. The move comes just five months after the country initiated a tender process.
The licences – awarded to Mobilis, Djezzy and Ooredoo – are worth some 63.9 billion Algerian Dinar (US$492 million) and all three must complete their roll outs within six years.
At a ceremony held at the Abdelatif-Rahal International Conference Centre (CIC) announcing the award, Algerian Minister of Post and Telecommunications, Sid Ali Zerrouki, described 5G as a decisive step toward modernizing Algeria’s telecom sector.
According to reports in Connecting Africa, he said the launch’s objectives were aligned with the national vision prioritising AI, the Internet of Things (IoT), cloud computing and advanced technologies to stimulate innovation in the healthcare sector, Industry 4.0 technologies, digital health and smart mobility.
He indicated that the digital ecosystem is expected to generate US$9 billion in GDP contribution in 2025 and US$13 billion by 2030, through job creation, added value and attracting investors.
“Thanks to the strategic vision, constant support and clear guidance of the President of the Republic, Abdelmadjid Tebboune, we managed to ensure the efficiency and optimal quality of this project at all levels,” Zerrouki said.
The Algerian market
The Algeria Telecom MNO market – service revenues from voice, SMS, data, not devices – is estimated to be worth some $2.68 billion in 2025. It is forecast to reach around $2.94 billion by 2030, marking it out as a slow-growth market. The deployment of 5G may yet see this improve.
Its main three operators are those that have been granted 5G licences, with Mobilis having 22.51 million subs (43.7% share of the market), Djezzy 15.89 million subs (30.9%) and Ooredoo 13.10 million subs (25.4%).
From a DCB perspective, Algeria is a positive market. The Evina Telecoming DCB Index 2023 rates Algeria at 2.9/5, classifying it as a “positive” DCB marketalongside other emerging MEA markets.
International DCB players such as Fortumo, Mondia Pay, Digital Virgo and TPAY, are all active, offering carrier billing across all three MNOs for app stores, gaming, VAS and streaming.
Digital Virgo’s DV Pass coverage page lists Djezzy, Mobilis and Ooredoo in Algeria, with an addressable base of about 13.1 m mobile users reachable via its DCB platform.
Nobody publishes a precise national DCB volume, but card penetration is very low: only 2.8% of the population have a credit card and 22.9% a debit card (2024). In 2023, only 8.2% of Algerians made any online purchase via mobile or internet and the country’s e-commerce market size was $1.5 billion in 2024.
Given that, DCB is one of the few mass-market, cardless digital payment rails, especially for app stores, games, streaming and small-ticket digital content. But it is not used for most physical-goods e-commerce, where cash-on-delivery and bank transfer dominate.
A realistic, order-of-magnitude view suggests that DCB probably represents a low-single-digit percentage of total consumer e-commerce (~1–3%), but it could easily be 20–30%+ of consumer spend on pure digital content (games, VAS, OTT subscriptions, app-store micro-payments.
In absolute terms, that suggests annual DCB gross transaction value in the tens of millions of USD, not yet hundreds of millions.
