As part of a wider drive to localise economic gains, President Felix Tshisekedi ordered regulators to strictly carry out the directive that could materially alter how major operators structure their businesses in the country. Telecom turnover rose nearly 9% to over $2 billion in 2024, underscoring the sector’s economic weight.
Tshisekedi told cabinet that failure to enforce employee and national ownership provisions amounted to a legal and social imbalance, arguing that Congolese workers were being denied a rightful stake in companies they help build. As a demonstration of the seriousness of the empowerment laws, DRC authorities began implementing the President’s order early this year.
Under the 2020 telecommunications law, operators must reserve at least 30% of their share capital for Congolese ownership, including 5% specifically for local employees. Regulators, led by the Ministry of Posts and telecom watchdog ARPTC, are now engaging operators to define financial and procedural pathways to apply the requirement.
Foreign parent companies currently control most telecom operators in the DRC. Vodacom Congo is majority owned by Vodacom Group, with the remaining stake held by Congo Wireless Network. Orange RDC is fully owned by France’s Orange, Airtel Congo RDC is owned by Airtel Africa, and Africell RDC is controlled by US-based Africell Holding, leaving limited direct equity participation for Congolese stakeholders.
Tshisekedi has described the delayed enforcement as a distortion in corporate governance that weakens social dialogue and excludes workers from profit participation. Once implemented, employees would become shareholders eligible for annual dividends in addition to wages.
The policy push extends beyond telecoms. In a January 30 letter, Mines Minister Louis Watum directed mining companies to prove that 5% of their share capital is held by Congolese employees by July 31, 2026. The order, grounded in the 2018 mining code, signals a broader government effort to localise economic gains in a country rich in copper, cobalt, gold, lithium and other strategic minerals despite persistent conflict.
The DRC insists that the reforms are intended to advance economic sovereignty and inclusion, ensuring that growth in high-value sectors like telecoms and mining translates into meaningful ownership and income opportunities for citizens in one of Africa’s most resource-rich yet complex markets.
