Before you start

Your passport — identification is a condition of the subscription now
An unlocked handset; dual-SIM is standard practice here
An address for the registration form
A charging solution that does not depend on the grid

Step-by-step

1
Buy from an operator shop, on your own passport
Identification is mandatory and systematic, so a SIM registered against your own passport at an agency is the only version that will keep working. A pre-registered SIM from a street table is registered to someone else — which is what the reform exists to stop, and not something to have your mobile money attached to.
In personWho: YouUnder an hour at an agencySmall fixed cost; bundles are the real spend
2
Solve charging before you solve coverage
The state plant failed in 1990 and MIBA's 11.8 MW hydro facility became the principal source for a city of nearly three million, with frequent outages. A power bank, a solar charger and a household battery system are not survivalism here, they are the normal arrangement — and a phone that cannot charge is not a communication device.
In personWho: YouYour first weekUS$ 80–300 a month for household power, depending on your setup
3
Carry two networks
Coverage varies across the communes and thins quickly outside the city. Two SIMs from different operators is the minimum standard, and asking locally which operator reaches which axis is worth doing before any journey rather than during one.
In personWho: YouSame visitA second SIM and a standing bundle
4
Set up mobile money and treat it as a bank account
M-Pesa, Airtel Money, Orange Money and Afrimoney handle salaries, rent and market payments, and agent networks reach much further into this province than bank branches. The BCC's prohibition on foreign-currency cash from 9 April 2027 names mobile money as a replacement channel, so registering the wallet properly in your own verified name now pays off later.
Mobile appWho: YouMinutes at an agentFree to open; per-transaction fees
5
Plan non-cellular communication for any travel outside the city
Coverage outside Mbuji-Mayi is patchy to absent and the roads are poor. Any field travel needs a communication plan that does not depend on a mobile network — organisations working here treat satellite messengers or phones as standard equipment, and an individual travelling independently should do the same.
In personWho: You and your organisationBefore any journey outDevice plus airtime

Documents you’ll need

Passport, and your visa once you have one
An address for the registration form
Your registration receipt — keep it

Things most newcomers don’t know

Here, the phone's constraint is electricity, not signal.

A city of nearly three million running principally on an 11.8 MW plant with frequent outages inverts the usual assumption. Long-term residents build around solar and batteries, and treat a charged device as something they manage rather than something that happens.

Source: MIBA hydro plant as the city's principal supply since 1990

The RAM levy is dead and has been since 1 March 2022.

The Registre des Appareils Mobiles was a per-device charge taken from airtime, abolished by the Council of Ministers after both chambers of parliament demanded it. Any guide still warning about mysterious airtime deductions is describing a tax that no longer exists — the fastest way to date a DRC guide.

Source: Conseil des ministres, February 2022; abolition 1 March 2022

SIM anonymity ended by security decision, not consumer reform.

The requirement came from an urgent meeting between the security services, the PTNTIC ministry and ARPTC, with the explicit aim of ending anonymity in electronic communications. The check is not a formality, and a line in somebody else's name is a liability rather than a shortcut.

Source: Government SIM-identification measures, implemented by ARPTC

Mobile money is the financial infrastructure of provincial DRC.

Agent networks are far denser than branch networks outside the capital, and the central bank's replacement for cash settlement in April 2027 names mobile money explicitly. In Kasaï-Oriental the wallet is what actually works.

Source: BCC de-dollarisation package, April 2026