Before you start

A passport, or your carte d'identité d'étranger once you hold it
A physical presence at an agency — identification is done in person
An unlocked handset; check eSIM support with *#06# before relying on it
The knowledge that the line must be in YOUR name if a mobile-money wallet will sit on it

Step-by-step

1
Buy at an operator agency, not from a street table
Orange, Yas and Expresso all run dense agency networks across Plateau, Point E, Sacré-Cœur, Almadies and the banlieue, and there are counters inside Blaise Diagne airport. A SIM that already works when you buy it has been registered to somebody else, which means their identity is attached to your mobile money.
In personWho: YouMinutesA few hundred XOF for the SIM
2
Get identified in your own name
The agent records your passport or residence card against the line. The ARTP restricted unidentified numbers from 18 March 2025 and suspended them outright on 31 March 2025, after previous campaigns that deactivated millions of lines. The regulator also limits how many SIMs one subscriber may hold — the widely reported figure is three — so registering a spare in a colleague's name is both against the rules and a way to lose it.
In personWho: YouMinutesFree
3
Pick the operator that matches how you use a phone
Orange, through Sonatel, is the incumbent with the broadest coverage outside Dakar and the deepest Orange Money agent network — which matters if you will travel to Touba, Saint-Louis or Casamance. Yas competes hardest on data pricing in the city. Expresso is the third player. Carrying two lines is common and cheap.
In personWho: YouSame dayNothing to compare
4
Load a data pass rather than a monthly contract
Prepaid passes are the norm and are bought in-app or by USSD. Check the current tariff in the operator's own app rather than from an article: Senegalese data pricing has moved fast under competition, and the published comparisons age badly. Unused data does not roll over.
Mobile appWho: YouInstantBudget XOF 5,000–10,000 a month for a working professional volume
5
Sort home internet separately
Sonatel sells fibre across most of the peninsula and is the default for a flat; coverage thins fast in the outer banlieue and outside Dakar, where 4G routers are the practical answer. Ask the building, not the salesperson, whether fibre is actually pulled to the block — an address being 'eligible' and being connected are different states.
OnlineWho: YouDays to weeks for an installQuoted per package; confirm the install lead time in writing

Documents you’ll need

Passport, or the carte d'identité d'étranger
An unlocked handset
Nothing else — no proof of address, no bank account

Things most newcomers don’t know

Senegal actually pulled the trigger on unidentified SIMs; Côte d'Ivoire did not.

The ARTP suspended unidentified lines on 31 March 2025 after restricting them from 18 March, following earlier campaigns that deactivated millions of numbers. Anyone applying an Abidjan heuristic — where the identification campaigns are older and no active purge is running — will underrate the risk of an informally acquired SIM here.

Source: ARTP; Senegalese press, March 2025

Free Sénégal is now Yas, and both names are still in circulation.

The rebrand landed in 2025, so contracts, job adverts, shop signage and half the internet still say Free. They are the same operator. Do not conclude a fourth network exists.

Source: ARTP market reporting

The line has to be in your name because the wallet is.

Mobile money is identity-bound to the SIM. A line registered to a friend, a landlord or an employer means your salary, your rent and your savings sit inside somebody else's identity — and you cannot recover the wallet without them. This is the most expensive shortcut available on day one.

Source: Operator KYC rules under ARTP identification requirements

Coverage outside Dakar is an operator decision, not a national one.

If you will spend real time in Saint-Louis, Touba or Casamance, the incumbent's rural coverage and agent density is worth more than a cheaper city data package. This is one of the few choices that is genuinely different for a Dakar-only life and a Senegal-wide one.

Source: ARTP market observatory

Common mistakes to avoid

Buying a pre-activated SIM from a street vendor and inheriting someone else's registration
Putting a mobile-money wallet on a line registered to somebody else
Assuming the identification deadline was a bluff — it was not, and lines were cut
Holding more lines than the regulator allows across operators
Reading a 2024 data-price comparison as current; Senegalese tariffs have moved fast
Signing a flat before checking whether fibre is pulled to the building rather than merely 'available'

Some of this may be out of date. Spotted something inaccurate? Help us keep it right for the next newcomer.