BURKINA FASO’S INFRASTRUCTURE: A CONTINENTAL PERSPECTIVE Key institutional reforms are behind this progress. Liberalizing the market and opening to private capital have been instrumental. In the early 2000s the mobile market was monopolistic; in 2005 there were three operators in the market and a fourth expected by the end of 2010. The national operator, Onatel, was privatized in 2006, when Burkina Faso’s government sold a 51 percent stake to Maroc Telecom. As of 2009, the government sold a further 20 percent of Onatel’s capital in a public offering and

**Figure 22. Market concentration in Burkina Faso relatively low**

<!-- Start of picture text --> 100<br>90<br>80<br>70<br>60<br>50<br>40<br>30<br>20<br>10<br>0<br>2005 2008<br>Herfindahl-Hirschmann Index<br>Mali Niger Cameroun Ghana Burkina Faso Benin Nigeria<br><!-- End of picture text --> _Source:_ World Bank 2009a.

_Note:_ Herfindhal-Hirschmann index (HHI) is a commonly accepted measure of market concentration. It is calculated by squaring the market share of each firm competing in the market and then summing the resulting numbers. A HHI of 100 indicates the market is a monopoly; the lower the HHI, more diluted is the market power exerted by one company/agent.

an additional 6 percent was expected to be sold to employees. Burkina Faso has one of the lowest market power concentrations in West Africa (figure 22).

Flows of private resources **Figure 23. There is still room for increased private participation** to the sector in the period 1992– 100% 99 were minimal, at an annual 80% average of $0.001 million, but 60% they skyrocketed in subsequent 40% years: private participation 20% increased sixfold between the 0% periods 2000–03 and 2004–08, partly due to significant progress in Burkina Faso’s Existing access Efficient market gap Coverage gap investing climate. It is likely that another 35 percent of the _Source:_ Mayer and others 2009. GSM signal could be profitably _Note:_ Existing access represents the percentage of the population currently covered by voice served by private operators. infrastructure as of the third quarter of 2006. The efficient market gap represents the percentage of the population for whom voice telecommunications services are commercially Only about 5 percent of the viable given efficient and competitive markets. The coverage gap represents the percentage of population would not be the population for whom services are not viable without subsidy. commercially viable to serve and would probably require some degree of public subsidy (figure 23).

<!-- Start of picture text --> 100%<br>80%<br>60%<br>40%<br>20%<br>0%<br>Existing access Efficient market gap Coverage gap<br>Percent of population<br><!-- End of picture text --> _Source:_ Mayer and others 2009. _Note:_ Existing access represents the percentage of the population currently covered by voice infrastructure as of the third quarter of 2006. The efficient market gap represents the percentage of the population for whom voice telecommunications services are commercially viable given efficient and competitive markets. The coverage gap represents the percentage of the population for whom services are not viable without subsidy.

For the so-called coverage gap (that is, the percentage of the population for whom services are not viable without a subsidy), a universal access fund of about $20 million was set up with funds from operators to support rollout of services in rural areas. But this has remained largely unused, pending approval of the revised Universal Access Strategy. The government is finalizing a detailed national backbone feasibility study, which will provide guidance on development and financing options for a more robust national ICT infrastructure (figure 24).

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