Senegal’s government and ARTP, the country’s regulator, opened a 4G tender, with interested parties having until mid-January to throw their hats in the ring.

A statement said the government has decided to award “one or more new telecommunications licences” which will be allocated spectrum to run a 4G network.

The country has three incumbent operators: Orange, Millicom’s Tigo and Express Telecom, a Dubai based group which also has operations in Mauritania, Ghana and Guinea.

The statement said the only candidates eligible to bid are Senegalese firms which hold a licence for the establishment and operation of a public telecoms network, valid at the date of filing their application.

Applications must be submitted to ARTP no later than 18 January 2016.

Orange is the country’s dominant operator with 8.6 million mobile connections (end-Q3 2015 GSMA Intelligence), with its two rivals each holding about three million mobile connections.

No date for the award of the 4G licence(s) was given.