Due to its economy being so heavily dependent on tourism, the Maldives has suffered heavy economic as well as health casualties during the pandemic. The country had a relatively short period of lockdown and was willing to welcome visitors back as early as July 2020. But the effective shutdown of international air travel for most of the year resulted in the bottom falling out of the Maldives’ tourism industry, taking GDP down 32% in the process. The economy fared better in 2021, with a return to growth, yet it may still be a few years before the country’s key industries can return to the same level of prosperity that they previously enjoyed.
The Maldives’ telecoms market is experiencing a similar level of pain because of the pandemic, due to being overweight in the mobile segment. That is because, historically, the country’s high number of tourists and expatriate workers has inflated the penetration rate for mobile services, making it one of the highest in the world. That rate crashed in 2020 as demand for SIM cards (primarily prepaid) dried up. However, the number of contract subscribers increased as locals took advantage of competitive pricing offers from operators.
Everything now rests on a fast return to normality, with tourists helping to boost the nation’s coffers as well as buying up those prepaid SIM cards. With commercial 5G services already launched and fibre networks rapidly expanding around the country, the Maldives is primed to deliver world-class telecommunications services to its domestic and international customers.
The Maldives has two network operators: Dhiraagu and Ooredoo
2G/GSM is on 900 MHz, 3G on 2100 MHz up to (DC-)HSPA+ speed, 4G/LTE had started in 2013 on both providers on 1800 MHz (3) and added by 2100 (1) and 2600 (7) MHz. 5G started on Dhiraagu in Male in 2019 and is available without surcharge. Both networks have shops next door to each other at Male international airport.
The recent Open Signal report on mobile network experience in the Maldives, saw a tightly-fought competition between the two national operators across all the categories. Ooredoo won three awards outright, both Consistency awards and 4G Coverage Experience. In the remaining categories, including speed metrics, experiential awards and Availability, there were six statistical ties between Dhiraagu and Ooredoo, which resulted in six joint wins for both of them.
Ooredoo was taken over and rebranded 2012 from Wataniya. It's the second mobile provider in the Maldives. LTE has started 2014 on 2600 MHz (band 7) in Male, now available to prepaid customers to be added by 2100 MHz (band 1).
In August 2022 Ooredoo Maldives announced that its 5G network was now available across Greater Male. Mobile and ‘AirFibre’ home broadband customers are able to access 5G services in areas including Male, Villimale, Hulhumale and Hulhule. According to TeleGeography’s GlobalComms Database, Ooredoo launched commercial 5G services in select areas of Male in December 2020, targeting key business hubs, hospitals and public spaces. Ooredoo claims that average speeds of 400Mbps-600Mbps can be achieved, with peak speeds reaching above 1Gbps. At the same time, the firm introduced its AirFibre 5G fixed wireless service for home broadband customers.
Dhiraagu is the leading and the largest provider of telecommunications and digital services in the Maldives. It's mostly owned by the Batelco Group from Bahrain and the Government of the Maldives. They have linked the Maldives from north to south through a 1,253 km long fibre optic submarine cable network which supports the nation's largest 3G and 4G/LTE and fixed broadband networks. 4G/LTE started in Male on 1800 MHz (band 3) frequency band and has been expanded in 2015 to a few more islands and the 2600 MHz (band 7).
Dhiraagu was the first operator to launch the first 5G commercial service in Maldives and South Asia.
More recently they have announced the launch of their fibre broadband service in Kandoodhoo, an inhabited island of Thaa Atoll. The latest expansion brings the operator's fibre-to-the-home (FTTH) coverage to a total of 100 islands of the Maldives, representing coverage of 85% of households.
Related Posts:
- Operator Watch Blog: Maldives is getting a Taste of 5G!
- Operator Watch Blog: The Maldives: Moving forward to 5G
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