By Alieu Ceesay
As The Gambia begins its first nationwide shift to nine-digit mobile numbers, the Public Utilities Regulatory Authority (PURA) has given state-linked operator Gamcel six months to resolve outstanding technical problems and join the new numbering plan.
Director General Dr. Njogou L. Bah issued the warning on Friday at a press conference attended by PURA staff and representatives of Africell, QCell and Comium. No Gamcel official was present.
“We will give them these six months so that they can get what is needed technically, or whatever name you want to give it, to be able to get ready to come,” Dr. Bah said. “We are ready for them; we have catered for them, so we expect within this period Gamcel will be ready to join the rest.”
The migration, which took effect at midnight on 4 September 2026 for Africell, QCell and Comium, adds a two-digit operator prefix to existing seven-digit numbers: 87 for Africell, 83 for QCell and 86 for Comium. Subscribers keep their SIMs, handsets and balances. Dual dialing of seven- and nine-digit numbers runs until 30 November 2026; from 1 December only nine-digit numbers will work.
PURA said the reform is a strategic investment in the ICT sector, expanding numbering capacity from about 10 million to one billion numbers to support growth, new digital services and international connectivity in line with ITU recommendations. Gamcel numbers remain in the old seven-digit format for now.
Consultant Nicolas Jatta said the exercise has been expensive. “This migration is not a cheap exercise; it costs operators over D70 million,” he said, citing a figure of about D75 million while assuring the public that authorities have the capacity to run the new system.
Africell Managing Director Hussein Diab described the change as a marathon. “Some of the challenges we face are that we have different systems from vendors; sometimes the other system speaks different languages,” he said. “For us, one of the challenges we face is that our mobile money platforms are in cut-off, so we have to do renumbering.”
Gamcel, The Gambia’s first GSM operator, is itself in transition. Sources say about 80 percent of the company is being sold to new investors, a process that may be complicating its readiness to migrate.
PURA said it has already reserved space for Gamcel in the new plan. Whether the operator meets the six-month deadline will determine when its customers finally move onto nine-digit numbers alongside the rest of the market.
