Dakar 2026 Youth Olympics: eight days from the opening, Sonatel’s networks face their biggest test

For a mobile operator, an opening ceremony is like a giant concert that lasts two weeks: tens of thousands of phones packed into the same place, live broadcasts, journalists uploading heavy video at the worst possible moment. The Youth Olympic Games (YOG) in Dakar open on October 31, and they will be played out on that ground too.

The figures quoted by AfriqueITNews give the scale: 2,700 athletes, 25 sports, 206 delegations, 6,000 volunteers and 1,778 media representatives, spread across three cities, Dakar, Saly and Diamniadio. The Games run until November 13. Three cities means three coverage areas to hold at the same time.

Sonatel, official supplier since February 2025

The role belongs to Sonatel, the Senegalese subsidiary of the Orange group. The operator became first premium partner of the Games and official telecoms supplier under an agreement signed on February 28, 2025 with the organising committee. It provides the event’s fixed and mobile services. A hackathon run with the committee produced ideas on connectivity, cloud, cybersecurity and the spectator experience; Sonatel says the best of them could be deployed during the Games.

The operator says it relies on three layers: fibre in dense areas, 4G and 5G, and satellite. Its first satellite offer in Senegal dates from December 2025. On the organisers’ side, Socialnetlink reported in May that the committee wanted to connect every competition venue and every cultural site, with Wi-Fi, to the quality level required by the International Olympic Committee.

There is a precedent for the promise: the Orange group supplied the networks for the Paris 2024 Games, which the Dakar committee cites as a reference. What that experience will deliver in Dakar, Saly and Diamniadio remains to be seen.

What isn’t known yet

Eight days before the ceremony, nothing verifiable is public: no speed measurements at the venues, no coverage map, no list of facilities equipped with Wi-Fi. The documents available are partnership announcements, in other words commitments. Only the first days of competition will show whether the network holds.

The operator does arrive with financial room to manoeuvre. In the first half of 2026 the group posted consolidated revenue of 1,049.8 billion CFA francs (up 9.3%) and net profit of 230 billion (up 10.5%), and preparing for the Games is part of its second-half roadmap.