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Abstracto :
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The right to choose is effective only if the consumer can actually change supplier: effectiveness is measured by the switching cost. Benin had eliminated the sector's main switching cost - the telephone number - through mobile number portability. This mechanism was rendered ineffective by a factor outside the regulated market. Until January 2025, each electronic money service was accessible only to subscribers of the network to which it was tied, and nearly nine out of ten active accounts were held with the same issuer: a subscriber who ported their number lost the use of their wallet - salary deposit, transfers received, bills, savings - and decided against changing operators. The switching cost, which had been eliminated on the number, had been re-established on the account. The issuance of electronic money thus influenced competition in the electronic communications market.
Although the interoperability requirement had existed in regional law since 21 May 2015, ten years later it had produced no discernible effect for the user due to the lack of an enforceable third-party access mechanism. Benin removed this obstacle in January 2025 by qualifying the situation with regard to the interconnection and access regime - the definition of which covers the logical linkage of networks and access to services provided by another company - without recourse to new legislation and 18 months before the regional deadline of 30 June 2026. A single number now hosts three wallets.
In addition to the right to choose, this measure promotes the right to information, the right to security, the right to be heard and to seek redress, to effective accessibility for all, and to consumer education. Benin invites member administrations to verify whether a comparable situation exists in their markets and to take this contribution into account to better protect consumer rights.
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