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BURKINA FASO

• "Loi portant reforme du secteur des telecommunications," loi no.051/98/AN (4 December 1998) in French. Article 43 exempts from licensing devices of low power and short range whose type and technical operating conditions are determined by order of the Minister responsible for Telecommunications.
• The law just cited has clearly defined licensing procedures but the mobile phone network owned by the government's Office National des télécommunications (ONATEL) operates without a license. This is much resented by the private network operators, but ARTEL has been unable to get ONATEL to pay for a mobile license, showing ARTEL's weakness. ---translated extract from Projet de marché commun ouest-africain: Harmonisation des politiques régissant le marché des TIC dans l'espace UEMOA-CEDEAO: Octroi des licences" (West African Common Market Project: Harmonization of Policies Governing the ICT Market in the UEMOA-ECOWAS Space: Granting of Licenses), in French (ITU/European Union, 2006).
• According to Wireless Networks for the Developing World: The Regulation and Use of License-Exempt Radio Bands in Africa" by Maria Isabel A. S. Neto (MIT thesis, June 2004), WiFi is licensed in Burkina Faso, but licenses are issued automatically.
• "ARTEL (Autorité Nationale de Régulation des Télécommunications) is responsible for spectrum management... Spectrum is assigned to large users by auction. [But] Allocation and licensing [are] the responsibility of the Ministry (Le Ministère chargé des telecommunications)... Spectrum scarcity is not an issue in Burkina Faso. A key priority for ARTEL is to establish a database of spectrum usage and to establish principles for setting spectrum fees..." --- from West African Common Market Project: Harmonization of Policies Governing the ICT Market [in] the UEMOA-ECOWAS Space - Radio Spectrum Management, by Michel Schaar and Chris Doyle, International Telecommunication Union/European Union, September 2005, page 10.
• "Les TIC au Burkina: Réglementation du secteur des Télécommunications" - archive and overview of national telecom regulations, including those concerning frequency management (all in French).
• "Arrêté Conjoint Nº00-001/MC/MEF: fixant le barème des redevances d'usage des fréquences radioélectriques" - table of fees for using radio frequencies. "Categorie 5" is short-range applications ("applications a courte portee"), which are free of charge after inspection and approval of the equipment.
• "L'ADSL et le Wifi: des produits révolutionnaires de l'ONATEL" par San Evariste Barro, Observateur Paalga, January 2004 (in French). The National Telecommunications Office plans to introduce Wi-fi and ADSL services in 2004.

Africa - Regional Overview