In Burundi, access to the Internet and mobile phone networks has become increasingly challenging for users, in a country where Internet penetration is among the lowest in the region, at only 12.5%, according to data from Digital Watch. 

Aimé Ndayikunda’s mother suffered from a chronic illness and needed to get medication from Bujumbura, the main city and economic capital.

Due to a lack of Internet access and direct dialing network services, his mother ended up in the hospital and finally died because she missed calls from people who came with medication that could have saved her life.

Similar situations are common in a country with a population of around 12 million. 

Pierre Ndayisaba, who operates a mobile phone cash transfer facility in Bujumbura, complains that he can’t work as much as he used to.

Internet connections have become unbearable recently in the East African country, where mobile transactions play an important role in financial inclusion, as analyzed by the Central Bank of Burundi in its July 2025 monetary policy report. 

“I am no longer able to transfer money for my clients as I used to. Sometimes we don’t have a network, and sometimes transfers have become difficult for us. My customers complain that they are not served as they used to be,” said Ndayisaba. 

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When not running his business, Ndayisaba is a student at one of the town’s universities where he is doing finance studies, and connectivity issues are impacting his studies as well. 

“As a student, I have to do my research at night when everyone else has gone to bed. From time to time, I work past 2 a.m. so I can benefit from high-speed Internet, which is only available during the late hours,” Ndayisaba explained.

Telecoms troubles 

Ndayikunda deplores the fact that access to information becomes impossible when there is no available Internet network, and believes that information is a basic right for all citizens.  

Léopold Nzaniye, a retired telecoms expert, agrees.

“When there is an Internet outage or network disruption, there is automatically a violation of human rights in general and digital rights in particular. Here, we must understand that human rights are broad and that telecoms play an important role because they affect communication and relationships between people,” Nzaniye said.

He added that it also affects and disrupts the digital economy of an entire national financial system.

While the country is facing a shortage of fuel, Nzaniye said that the current challenges facing the telecoms industry are difficult to overcome because they are buried deep within the lack of foreign currency, electricity and many more technical issues. 

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Moreover, he believes that some telecom operators could even experience financial difficulties if the fuel or electricity shortages are not resolved soon.

Technical problems

Nzaniye believes that there must be a serious technical problem, because late at night it is possible to have a good Internet connection but not during the day.

Telecommunications consultant Audace Ndayishimiye said that the regulator needs to increase its control to over Internet quality in the country.

The National Agency for Regulation and Control of Telecommunications (ARCT in French acronym), according to Ndayishimiye, must have a permanent eye on operators and the services they offer to avoid cheating.

“It’s a serious offense to lie to the population that you offer a service when in reality you don’t,” said Ndayishimiye.

He refers to the fact that it is hard to get a 4G signal on a mobile phone even though operators claim to offer 4G services.

In Burundi, only three telecoms companies share the market – Econet Wireless Burundi, Lumitel and Onatel – after the closure of two others over tax reasons.  

Ndayishimiye said that aid is urgently needed to restore the state-owned company Onatel and its mobile branch Onamob to be competitive in its services. Onatel is by far the smallest mobile operator in the country.  

Power supply problems

Power and fuel shortages are also a major problem for the telecoms sector in Burundi. 

Another telecoms organization worker, who wished to remain anonymous, said that most of the towers don’t work when there is a power shortage. 

“Following our slowed-down operations, we can’t afford fuel for our towers disseminated all over the country. When the power is gone, we must wait until it is back”, he said.

National flag of Burundi.

Burundi is facing a shortage of fuel, foreign currency, and electricity which is impacting the telecoms sector. (Source: Image by www.slon.pics on Freepik)

Jean Albert Manigomba, the director general of state-owned water and power distribution company Régideso, said that electricity will soon be available and that all users will benefit from it.

In fact, Burundi’s electricity production reached 118 megawatts in 2025, up from only 47 megawatts in 2020, according to Burundi’s President Evariste Ndayishimiye, who was speaking while launching a 50 megawatt dam in southern Burundi in May 2025.

Solutions vs. disillusionment

When satellite Internet provider Starlink received a license in Burundi in May 2024 and then launched services in September 2024 it was seen as a godsend because Internet users thought they were going to get better network coverage.

However, Audace Ndayishimiye believes that Starlink’s services are so expensive that they are out of reach for many citizens. 

“Who can go and buy Internet dishes and other equipment for more than $500 while their kids don’t have food? When I was a civil servant, that was my whole year’s salary,” he commented. 

The World Bank has been the leading partner in the stabilization and deployment of digital services in Burundi starting in the 1980s. At that time, there was only Onatel, the state-owned company, but now there are other private operators.

Burundi plans to deploy 4G to rural villages in the country, thanks to a US$9.1 million grant from the World Bank which partnered with Lumitel Burundi, the second-biggest mobile operator in the country.

In addition, Lumitel plans a 5G deployment in the next few months.

According to the regulator ARCT’s 2023 report on 5G: “Burundi 5G is heralded as a disruptive technological generation. It will not simply increase bandwidth but rather aims to drive the digitalization of the economy.” 

Samuel Bahizi, the agency’s general director, said in the report that “5G will enable the emergence of new uses, particularly thanks to reduced latency and mass machine-to-machine connections (the Internet of Things).”

“By developing this roadmap, the ARCT aims to support the development of these new uses in key sectors of Burundi’s economy, including energy, health, education, media, transportation, and industry,” Bahizi said.

Bahizi added that 5G provides an optimal balance between coverage and capacity for cost-effective network deployment.

In Burundi, part of the spectrum bandwidth is already allocated to operators and must be redeveloped to allow for the introduction of 5G, Bahizi said.