The Economic Impact of Telecommunications in the Republic of Guinea

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to analyze the economic impact of telecommunications in the Republic of Guinea. The empirical analysis conducted suggests that the sector generates a significant direct and indirect economic impact, contributing to 6.02% of the country’s 2019 GDP. From a direct effect standpoint, the Guinean telecommunications companies have generated in 2019 US$ 581 million in revenues, which represent 5.04% of the country’s GDP. On the other hand, the sector generates approximately 1,413 direct jobs and 1.03% of total salaries in the Guinean workforce. Beyond the direct effects, the telecommunications industry has indirectly contributed US$ 113 million on average per year to the whole economy since 2010 (0.98% of the 2019 GDP). This contribution is driven by mobile services (voice and data), but does not consider fixed broadband, which has no impact, due to the limited number of subscribers. Sectors mostly impacted by telecommunications were found to be business services (43.04% of the indirect economic impact), financial services (15.81%), trade (12.28%), other services (mainly entertainment, 9.42%), the electricity, gas and water sector (9.25%), and manufacturing industries (5.98%). Given the economic importance of telecommunications, public policies and regulatory frameworks need to be defined to maximize investment in network deployment, particularly in mobile broadband.