Quick Facts About the Democratic Republic of the Congo
First, the name. The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC, Congo-Kinshasa, country code CD) is not the Republic of the Congo (Congo-Brazzaville, country code CG). Different capitals, different currencies, different operators, different calling codes. They face each other across the Congo River. If you are flying to Brazzaville, this is the wrong guide — you want the Republic of the Congo.
General Information
- • Capital: Kinshasa
- • Currency: Congolese franc (CDF), with heavy everyday use of US dollars
- • Languages: French (official); Lingala, Kikongo ya leta, Swahili and Luba-Kasai are national languages
- • Population: around 112 million (UN estimate for 2025; the World Bank put 2024 at 109.3 million)
- • Time zones: two — WAT (UTC+1) in the west including Kinshasa, CAT (UTC+2) in the east including Lubumbashi, Goma and Bukavu. The DRC is the only African country with more than one time zone.
Practical Information
- • Power: plug types C and E, 230 V, 50 Hz
- • Calling code: +243
- • Emergency: 112 police, 118 ambulance (see the caveat below)
- • Visa: required for most nationalities, arranged in advance
- • Travel advisory: the United States has the DRC at Level 4, Do Not Travel, raised from Level 3 on 28 January 2025 and covering the whole country
Why the two time zones matter in practice: a flight or a meeting quoted in “Congo time” is ambiguous. Kinshasa and Lubumbashi are an hour apart inside the same country. Your phone will follow the network it is registered on, so check the city, not the country, when you set an alarm.
Security and Network Shutdowns: Read This Before Anything Else
Most connectivity guides for the DRC read like a holiday brochure. That is not honest about this country, and it is not useful. Here is what is documented, with dates.
Armed conflict in the east
The M23 armed group took Goma, the capital of North Kivu, on 30 January 2025, and Bukavu, the capital of South Kivu, on 16 February 2025. Fighting has continued across North Kivu, South Kivu and Ituri despite a Declaration of Principles signed in Doha on 19 July 2025. The United States raised its DRC travel advisory to Level 4, Do Not Travel, on 28 January 2025, and that advisory applies to the whole country, not only the east. Consult your own government's advisory and your insurer. We sell connectivity; we are not in a position to tell you it is safe to go, and we will not pretend otherwise.
The network can be switched off
An eSIM is a subscription to a network. When the network stops, the eSIM stops, and no plan, provider or price point changes that. Two documented episodes:
- • January–February 2025, nationwide and Goma. As M23 advanced, connectivity at the Goma internet exchange was disrupted from around 23–27 January 2025. X and TikTok were reported blocked nationally, and NetBlocks reported the Google Play Store blocked too — apparently to stop users downloading VPN apps to get around the first two blocks.
- • July–August 2026, Fizi Territory, South Kivu. Mobile networks and internet access were cut in Fizi Territory, including the town of Baraka, from 3 July 2026. The Committee to Protect Journalists reported the cut still in force on 17 August 2026 — more than six weeks — and reported soldiers seizing Starlink equipment from media outlets, telling journalists it would be returned “only when the war ended”.
What that means for how you plan
- • Do not make a mobile data plan your only means of being reachable anywhere in the east.
- • Download maps, documents and translations offline before you travel, not on arrival.
- • Agree a check-in schedule with someone at home so a missed check-in means something.
- • Keep a hard copy of the numbers and addresses you would need if the phone were useless.
Benefits of eSIM for DRC Travel
🛬 Connected before you land
You install it at home on your own WiFi. No shop, no queue, no negotiating a SIM purchase in French on your first afternoon.
📶 Two networks on the country plan
Our DRC country plans declare Vodacom and Airtel, the two largest networks in the country. If one is weak where you are, the other may not be.
🔢 Your own number stays live
The eSIM runs alongside your home SIM, so banking codes and two-factor messages still reach you.
🌍 One plan across the river
The Africa regional package covers both the DRC and the Republic of the Congo, so the Kinshasa–Brazzaville crossing does not need two plans.
💸 No bill shock
The DRC sits outside every home-roaming zone we know of. A prepaid data plan has a fixed, visible ceiling; roaming does not.
🗣️ Support in your language
Our installation flow and support are in English and Spanish, not only French.
💰 Loading Current Democratic Republic of the Congo eSIM Prices...
How to Install Your DRC eSIM
Simple Installation Steps
- Choose the right scope: a DRC country plan covers the DRC only; the Africa regional package adds Congo-Brazzaville, Uganda, Tanzania, Zambia and 24 more
- Receive the QR code: it arrives by email and in your account as soon as you pay
- Install at home: scan the QR code on your own WiFi before you leave for the airport
- Activate on arrival: switch the eSIM line on and turn data roaming ON for that line
Congo tip: install before departure, activate after landing. The plan clock starts on activation, not on purchase, so you do not spend days of it in transit. Do not count on airport WiFi to rescue an eSIM you never installed.
Network Coverage Across DRC
The DRC is roughly the size of Western Europe with a road network that does not connect most of it. Mobile coverage follows the cities, the mining corridors and the main river and road routes; between them there is very little. Treat the list below as where the network is, not as a map of where the network is not.
Cities with usable 4G
- • Kinshasa — capital, largest city, UTC+1
- • Lubumbashi — mining capital of Haut-Katanga, UTC+2
- • Kolwezi — cobalt and copper belt
- • Mbuji-Mayi — diamond centre, Kasai-Oriental
- • Kisangani — Congo River port, Tshopo
Covered, but check the situation first
- • Goma — North Kivu; under M23 control since January 2025
- • Bukavu — South Kivu; under M23 control since February 2025
- • Fizi and Baraka — South Kivu; networks cut since July 2026
- • Matadi — Atlantic port, Kongo-Central
- • Kananga and Mbandaka — central and equatorial regions, thinner coverage
Where there is nothing: Salonga National Park and most of the central Congo Basin have no public mobile network at all. River journeys on the Congo spend days out of range. Operations in those areas run on satellite, and that is the campsite's or the organisation's equipment, not your phone.
Data Plan Recommendations by Travel Type
Business Traveller
Kinshasa and Lubumbashi, where the 4G is real and hotel WiFi often is not
Best for:
- •Video calls back to head office
- •Email with large attachments
- •Maps and ride coordination in the city
- •A second line, so your home number still receives codes
Mining & Industry
The Haut-Katanga and Lualaba copper-cobalt corridor around Lubumbashi and Kolwezi
Best for:
- •Coverage follows the corridor, not the bush around it
- •Sites often run their own satellite link — the eSIM is for the drive
- •Top up mid-stay rather than buying one oversized plan
- •Remember Lubumbashi is UTC+2 and Kinshasa is UTC+1
Humanitarian & NGO
Deployments where the mobile network is one channel among several, not the only one
Best for:
- •Networks in the east have been cut for weeks at a time
- •Two networks on one plan: our country plans list Vodacom and Airtel
- •Offline maps and offline document copies as standard
- •Satellite and radio remain the primary channel where your org says so
Regional Traveller
Crossing the river to Brazzaville, or continuing to Uganda, Tanzania or Zambia
Best for:
- •The Africa regional package covers 29 countries including both Congos
- •It does NOT cover Rwanda, Burundi or Angola
- •Check your route against the package list before you buy
- •A DRC country plan stops at the DRC border
Data Usage Tips for Democratic Republic of the Congo
Save Data:
- • Download maps offline before leaving a city
- • Cache important documents on the device
- • Compress files before sending
- • Hotel WiFi exists but is often slower than 4G — test both
Before you leave a covered area:
- • Download the offline map for your whole route
- • Install every app you might need, including any VPN
- • Save contacts and addresses offline, and on paper
- • Tell someone when you next expect to have signal
Not sure whether you need the DRC country plan or the Africa regional package? Send us your route and we will tell you which one covers it.
Compare All DRC PlansEssential Travel Tips for DRC
Connectivity
- • Usable 4G in the cities, very little between them
- • Public WiFi is scarce and hotel WiFi is often slower than mobile data
- • Mains power is unreliable; carry two power banks
- • WhatsApp is the default channel for almost everything
- • Social platforms have been blocked before and can be again
Money and practicalities
- • Congolese franc is official; US dollars circulate widely
- • Carry clean, undamaged, recent-series dollar notes — worn ones get refused
- • Cash dominates; card acceptance is limited to larger hotels and a few businesses
- • Mobile money is everywhere but needs a local registered number
- • French is the working language; Lingala in Kinshasa, Swahili in the east
Places and Their Current Status
The DRC has extraordinary places. Several of the most famous are not currently open, and a guide that lists them as if they were is doing you a disservice. Status below is as of September 2026 — verify it yourself before you commit to anything.
Not open / not advisable
- 🚫 Virunga National Park: closed to tourism since March 2020, first for COVID-19 and since for security. Mountain gorilla trekking is not bookable. Rwanda and Uganda are where that experience is currently available.
- 🚫 Mount Nyiragongo: the volcano sits inside Virunga, above Goma, and is subject to the same closure and the same security situation.
- ⚠️ Kahuzi-Biéga National Park: the eastern lowland gorilla park, in South Kivu. Whatever any tour operator tells you, this is in a province where the provincial capital changed hands by force in February 2025. Verify current status directly.
Elsewhere in the country
- 🌊 Boyoma Falls: seven cataracts on the Lualaba near Kisangani, in Tshopo province.
- 🌿 Salonga National Park: a UNESCO World Heritage site and the largest tropical rainforest reserve in Africa. Remote, hard to reach, and with no mobile coverage.
- 🏛️ National Museum of the DRC, Kinshasa: the country's main collection, in a purpose-built museum opened in 2019.
- 🌊 The Congo River: the artery of the country, and the reason Kinshasa and Brazzaville face each other across the water.
Note on a park you may have seen listed: Odzala-Kokoua is a well-known Congo Basin rainforest park, but it is in the Republic of the Congo (Cuvette-Ouest department, reached by charter from Brazzaville), not in the DRC. It used to appear on this page. It does not belong here.
Network Providers in DRC
Four operators run national mobile networks in the DRC, all on mobile country code 630. Which one your eSIM uses is decided by the plan you buy, not by the phone. Below is what each of our plan families actually declares, checked against our own coverage data on 8 September 2026.
Vodacom Congo
MCC-MNC 630-01 · on our DRC country plans
- • Declared at 4G on our DRC country plans
- • The broadest footprint of the four
- • Runs M-Pesa mobile money
- • Select this by hand if you bought a country plan
Airtel DRC
MCC-MNC 630-02 · on our country plans and the Africa regional
- • The only operator that appears on both plan families
- • Strong urban and mining-corridor presence
- • Runs Airtel Money
- • Some of our older records still label it “Zain”, its pre-2010 brand
Orange RDC
On the Africa regional package only
- • Declared at 4G on our Africa regional package
- • Not on our DRC country plans
- • Runs Orange Money
- • A genuine DRC operator — not to be confused with Orange elsewhere in the region
Africell RDC
On the Discover and Discover+ global plans only
- • The smallest of the four by footprint
- • Not on our DRC country plans or the Africa regional
- • Concentrated in Kinshasa and the larger cities
- • If you bought a global plan, this is your network here
Quick reference. DRC country plan → Vodacom or Airtel. Africa regional package → Airtel or Orange. Discover / Discover+ global → Africell RDC. Your plan cannot use a network it does not list, no matter how strong that network's signal looks in your settings screen.
Troubleshooting Guide
eSIM not connecting?
- 1. Turn airplane mode on for 30 seconds, then off
- 2. Make sure data roaming is ON for the eSIM line — this is the single most common cause
- 3. Check that the eSIM, not your home SIM, is set as the mobile data line
- 4. Select the network manually: Settings → Cellular → Network Selection, and choose the operator your plan lists (see the table above). Otherwise leave it on Automatic.
Signal drops outside the cities?
- • Expect 3G, 2G or nothing away from cities and main corridors
- • Download offline maps for your whole route before you leave a city
- • Airplane mode between towns saves a lot of battery — a phone hunting for a network drains fast
- • If the phone locks onto a weak cell, toggling airplane mode forces a fresh search
Apps not loading even though data works?
- • Individual platforms have been blocked in the DRC before — X, TikTok and the Google Play Store were all reported blocked in early 2025
- • A block affects every network in the country, so switching plan or operator does not help
- • Install anything you will need, including any VPN app, before you travel — you cannot download from a blocked app store
- • If the whole network is down rather than one app, that is a shutdown, and nothing on your phone will fix it
Emergency Numbers in the DRC
Published numbers
- 📞 Police: 112
- 🚑 Ambulance: 118
These are the two numbers published for the DRC. We have deliberately removed the fire, medical and “general” numbers this page used to list, along with four airport and hospital telephone numbers, because none of them could be verified.
What to arrange instead
- • A public emergency line may not be answered, or may not lead to a response. Do not build your plan around one.
- • Save your embassy's number and address before you travel, and register with them if your country offers it.
- • Travel insurance with medical evacuation is not optional here.
- • Save your hotel's and your local contact's numbers offline, on paper as well as on the phone.
Cultural Guide & Etiquette
Do
- ✅ Greet people properly before getting to the point — it matters
- ✅ Learn a few words of French, and of Lingala or Swahili for where you are
- ✅ Dress conservatively, particularly outside Kinshasa
- ✅ Show deference to elders
- ✅ Carry copies of your passport and visa
Do not
- ❌ Photograph people without asking first
- ❌ Photograph government buildings, airports, bridges, military or police — this causes real trouble
- ❌ Discuss politics or the conflict in public
- ❌ Refuse hospitality abruptly
- ❌ Eat or hand things over with the left hand
Cultural note: the DRC has over 200 ethnic groups and four national languages alongside French. Congolese rumba, inscribed on UNESCO's Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity in 2021, is one of the country's great cultural exports and is genuinely everywhere. The photography warning above is the one to take most seriously: it is the mistake visitors make most often and the one with the fastest consequences.
Frequently Asked Questions
Which network will my DR Congo eSIM actually connect to?
It depends on which plan you buy, and the difference is real. Our DR Congo country plans declare two networks: Vodacom (4G) and Airtel. Our Africa regional package declares Airtel and Orange in the DRC. Our Discover and Discover+ global plans declare Africell RDC. All four are genuine DRC operators, but no single plan gives you all four, so if you ever have to pick a network by hand, pick the one your plan lists rather than whichever has the strongest bar.
Is mobile coverage good outside the major cities?
Kinshasa, Lubumbashi, Kolwezi, Goma, Bukavu, Kisangani, Mbuji-Mayi and Matadi have usable 4G. Away from the cities and the main road and river corridors, the DRC is one of the least-covered large countries on earth: coverage collapses to 3G, to 2G, or to nothing at all. Salonga and the deep Congo Basin have effectively no public mobile network. Plan for offline maps and long stretches with no signal rather than for a bad signal.
Can I use a DR Congo eSIM in neighbouring countries?
Only if you buy a package that lists those countries. Our DR Congo country plan is the DRC and nothing else. Our Africa regional package is 29 countries and does include the DRC, the Republic of the Congo (so the Kinshasa-Brazzaville river crossing is covered on both banks), the Central African Republic, Uganda, Tanzania and Zambia. It does NOT include Rwanda, Burundi or Angola — which matters, because the short hop from Goma into Gisenyi or from Bukavu into Cyangugu is exactly the crossing travellers assume is covered and is not.
Is the whole country affected by the conflict?
No, but the eastern provinces are, and the situation is serious rather than theoretical. M23 took Goma on 30 January 2025 and Bukavu on 16 February 2025, and fighting has continued across North Kivu, South Kivu and Ituri despite a Declaration of Principles signed in Doha in July 2025. The United States raised its travel advisory for the DRC from Level 3 to Level 4, Do Not Travel, on 28 January 2025, and that advisory covers the entire country. This guide is about connectivity; it is not a security assessment, and it is not a recommendation to travel. Check your own government advisory and your insurer before you book anything.
Can the network simply be switched off?
Yes, and it has been. In late January 2025, as M23 advanced on Goma, connectivity at the Goma internet exchange was disrupted, and X, TikTok and the Google Play Store were reported blocked nationally — the Play Store apparently to stop people downloading VPN apps. More recently, mobile networks and internet access were cut in Fizi Territory, including the town of Baraka in South Kivu, from 3 July 2026, and the Committee to Protect Journalists reported the cut still in force on 17 August 2026. No eSIM survives a network being turned off. If you are travelling anywhere in the east, treat satellite messaging and a pre-agreed check-in schedule as the primary plan and mobile data as the convenience.
Can I still trek gorillas in Virunga National Park?
No. Virunga has been closed to tourism since March 2020 — first because of COVID-19, then because of the security situation in North Kivu, which worsened sharply after M23 took Goma in January 2025. Mountain gorilla trekking is not bookable there, and anyone quoting you a Virunga permit price is quoting a product that is not on sale. Mountain gorilla trekking is available in Rwanda and Uganda instead. Kahuzi-Biega, the eastern lowland gorilla park, is in South Kivu and is subject to the same regional security situation, so verify its current status directly rather than trusting any guide, including this one.
Do I need French to use mobile data in the DRC?
Not for an eSIM. French is the official language and it is what you will hear in a Vodacom or Airtel shop, alongside Lingala in Kinshasa and Swahili in the east, but our installation flow, QR code and support are in English and Spanish. That is much of the point of an eSIM here: you install it at home on your own WiFi instead of negotiating a SIM purchase in French on the day you land.
Is mobile money useful for a visitor?
Mobile money — M-Pesa on Vodacom, Airtel Money, Orange Money — carries a large share of everyday payments in the DRC, but the accounts are tied to a local number registered to a person, which a data-only eSIM does not give you. In practice visitors run on cash. The Congolese franc is the official currency, but United States dollars circulate heavily and are often preferred for larger amounts; carry clean, undamaged, recent-series notes, because worn or marked dollars get refused.
Get Your DRC Data Sorted Before You Fly
Install at home, activate on landing, and know which network you are on
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