Onatel, the National Telecommunications Office, is the historical operator of Burkina Faso. It was created in 1987 following the split of the Posts and Telecommunications Office and was transformed into a state-owned company in 1994. In October 2002, the State established Telmob, wholly owned by Onatel, to which Mobile operations were transferred. Telmob obtained a license to operate a GSM Mobile network in April 2004.

On December 29, 2006, Maroc Telecom acquired 51% of Onatel as part of a privatization process carried out through an international tender.

On April 29, 2009, Onatel was listed on the Regional Stock Exchange (BRVM) located in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire. This transaction enabled the Burkinabe State to sell 20% of the telecom operator’s capital on the market.

On April 17, 2018, Maroc Telecom finalized the acquisition of an additional 10% stake in Onatel’s capital on the BRVM in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire, thus raising its ownership in the Burkinabe subsidiary to 61%.

On January 1, 2021, Onatel launched a new commercial brand for all its activities under the name Moov Africa Burkina.

Onatel provides Fixed Telephony services (voice and data) as well as high-speed Internet access to individual customers, businesses, and government administrations.

Although Onatel has not held a monopoly on basic services (national Fixed Telephony, telex, and telegraph) since December 31, 2005, it remains, to this day, the sole Fixed Telephony operator in Burkina Faso. On the Internet market, however, other service providers operate alongside Onatel.

As of the end of December 2023, Onatel’s Fixed network included 75,000 lines. The penetration rate of Fixed services relative to the population remains low, reaching only 0.3% at the end of December 2023.

The operator also sells high-speed Internet offers to its customers through its ADSL and FTTH network. As of the end of December 2023, Onatel had 25,000 Internet subscribers, up 57.7% compared with 2022.

As of September 30, 2023, the Burkinabe market had 27.2 million Mobile customers, representing a penetration rate of 120%, up 4 points in one year.

Onatel’s Mobile base stood at 11.6 million customers as of December 31, 2023, almost entirely prepaid.