Togo’s telecom regulator is redrawing the rules of mobile billing, and for millions of subscribers, the changes could reshape how they use voice and data services. On February 20, 2026, the Autorité de régulation des communications électroniques et des postes (ARCEP) announced sweeping new directives affecting the country’s two mobile network operators: Yas Togo and Moov Africa Togo. At the center of the reform are three issues that have long generated friction between operators and subscribers: unused data expiration, billing transparency, and SIM card validity.
For years, prepaid subscribers across West Africa have voiced a common frustration with losing unused data or voice credits once a plan expires. Under ARCEP’s new framework, that practice changes. Consumers in Togo will now be allowed to roll over unused voice and data balances from expired plans. The regulator has introduced a structured grace period: 10 days for plans valid for 10 days or less, and 30 days for plans with longer validity. However, the rollover is conditional. Customers must resubscribe to the same plan to reclaim their unused balances.
The nuance matters as structured portability is designed to reward continued subscription while discouraging churn. For operators, the move may alter short-term revenue recognition. For subscribers, it offers predictability and perceived fairness, two elements increasingly central to telecom competition in emerging markets.
Perhaps the most technically consequential reform is ARCEP’s requirement that mobile internet usage be billed strictly in bytes, the smallest standard unit of digital data measurement. In practical terms, this eliminates the possibility of rounding practices that could inflate user charges. “This ensures that usage matches billing precisely,” the regulator stated. While many consumers may not notice the unit shift, the policy has symbolic weight. It positions Togo as the only country in the sub-region mandating byte-level billing precision. In a region where telecom pricing transparency is often contested, that level of regulatory clarity signals a maturing digital policy environment.
The reforms also extend the validity period for inactive SIM cards from three months to six months. Additionally, ARCEP clarified that airtime remaining in a subscriber’s main account will not expire as long as the SIM card remains active.
For users who maintain secondary SIM cards, a common practice in West Africa, to navigate promotional pricing, the extension reduces the pressure to constantly top up or risk deactivation. It also offers breathing room to diaspora users and cross-border traders who may not use their Togolese SIMs continuously.
Unlike abrupt regulatory interventions seen elsewhere, ARCEP says the rules were developed through consultation with both operators and consumer advocacy groups. Those consulted include the Ligue des consommateurs du Togo (LCT), the Association Togolaise des Consommateurs (ATC), and the Mouvement Martin Luther King (MMLK).
The collaborative framing may help ease implementation friction. Telecom regulation in smaller markets often walks a fine line: protect consumers without undermining operator sustainability. By aligning reforms with both operators and civil society, ARCEP appears to be positioning the changes as structural modernization rather than punitive correction.
Togo’s move also places it within a broader West African regulatory shift. Both Côte d’Ivoire and Burkina Faso have previously introduced measures governing mobile plan validity periods. However, Togo’s byte-only billing mandate sets a new benchmark.
The sub-region’s telecom markets are increasingly competitive, driven by mobile money adoption, smartphone penetration, and digital public service delivery. Transparent billing and predictable validity rules are becoming competitive differentiators, not just regulatory obligations.
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Mobile connectivity in Togo underpins more than communication. It powers digital payments, small business transactions, cross-border trade, and access to government services. As data consumption rises, driven by social media, streaming, fintech apps, and e-commerce, disputes over billing precision and unused balances can quickly erode trust.
ARCEP’s intervention appears aimed at reinforcing that trust at a time when digital infrastructure is becoming foundational to economic growth. For Yas Togo and Moov Africa Togo, the new framework may require system updates, billing recalibrations, and customer communication campaigns. But it also creates a clearer rulebook, one that could reduce complaints and improve long-term customer loyalty.
For consumers, the shift is tangible: more time, more transparency, and less silent loss of unused value. In a region where telecom services are often criticized for opacity, Togo’s regulatory reset signals something larger: a push toward a fairer digital marketplace. And in West Africa’s fast-evolving connectivity race, clarity may be the most valuable upgrade of all.
