Quick Facts About Liberia
The country
- • Capital: Monrovia
- • Currency: Liberian dollar (LRD); US dollars circulate alongside it
- • Language: English is the official language
- • Population: 5,248,621 at the 2022 national census (LISGIS)
- • Independence: 26 July 1847, Africa's first republic
- • Time zone: GMT (UTC+0) all year, no clock change
- • Calling code: +231
What our plans declare
- • Country-plan network: Orange Liberia only (MCC-MNC 618-07)
- • Technology: 4G. Nothing in our catalogue declares usable 5G here
- • Country plans: 1 GB / 7 days up to 20 GB / 30 days
- • Voice and SMS: none — these are data-only profiles
- • Regional option: two different Africa plans, 29 and 36 countries, both include Liberia
- • Plugs: types A, B, C and F; 120 V and 220 V both occur, so check the label on your charger
- • Dry season: roughly December to April; the FCDO puts the rains at May to November
The Network You Actually Get
The short version: a Liberia country eSIM from us is an Orange Liberia line. Every coverage row we hold for the Liberia country plans — 1 GB, 2 GB, 3 GB, 5 GB, 10 GB and 20 GB — declares exactly one operator: MCC-MNC 618-07, 4G. That code belongs to Orange Liberia. Our own rows still spell it Cellcom, which was the company's name until Orange bought it in 2016 and rebranded it in 2017. Same network, older label.
Orange Liberia — this is your network
- • Formerly Cellcom; bought by Orange in 2016, rebranded 2017
- • The only operator our Liberia country plans register on
- • Also the operator behind the Airalo Africa regional plan in Liberia
- • If you are ever forced to pick manually, choose Orange or 618 07
Lonestar Cell MTN — only on some plans
- • MCC-MNC 618-01, the country's other operator, part of MTN Group
- • Carried by our global pay-as-you-go plan and by the eSIMaccess Africa regional
- • Not carried by the Liberia country plans
- • Select it while on a country plan and you get full bars and no data
Two operators, not three. Liberia has exactly two mobile network operators today, Orange Liberia and Lonestar Cell MTN. Older guides still list Comium as a third; it is not an operating network you can connect to, and neither is Starcell, whose dormant licence the Liberia Telecommunications Authority revoked in July 2026. If a network list on your phone offers you something other than Orange or Lonestar, it is not going to carry your data.
eSIM or a Local SIM?
A local Orange or Lonestar SIM is cheaper per gigabyte than anything we sell, and for a posting of several months it is the right answer. The eSIM wins on the first day and on short trips, and it wins for a specific reason in Liberia: you arrive already connected, at an airport an hour's drive from Monrovia, on a road the FCDO currently describes as hazardous because of roadworks.
Working before you clear the terminal
Roberts International is about 50 km from Monrovia. Being able to call your ride, confirm the hotel and share your location from the arrivals hall is the whole value proposition.
No registration errand
A local SIM means finding a registered agent and handing over ID. An eSIM profile is installed before you leave home.
You keep your own number
Data on the eSIM, your home line still reachable for two-factor codes and for voice calls, which the eSIM cannot make.
It does not give you a Liberian number
No SMS, no dialled calls, and no mobile money — Orange Money and MTN MoMo are tied to a local number you will not have.
It costs more per gigabyte
Materially more than a local prepaid bundle. For a stay measured in months, buy locally once you have landed.
It buys data, never coverage
A 20 GB plan and a 1 GB plan see exactly the same map. If Orange does not reach where you are going, no plan size fixes that.
Liberia eSIM Pricing & Plans
💰 Loading Current Liberia eSIM Prices...
If You Are Crossing a Border
A Liberia country plan works inside Liberia and nowhere else. There is no ECOWAS or West Africa regional plan in our catalogue — the two products that cover Liberia beyond its own borders are both Africa-wide, they come from two different suppliers, and they cover different country lists. That difference is the whole decision.
Airalo Africa regional — 36 countries
Includes Liberia and all three of its neighbours: Sierra Leone, Guinea and Cote d'Ivoire, plus Ghana, Senegal, Gambia, Mali, Togo, Benin and Nigeria. In Liberia it rides Orange Liberia, in 4G.
This is the one to look at for an overland West African route.
eSIMaccess Africa regional — 29 countries
Includes Liberia, Cote d'Ivoire, Ghana, Senegal, Mali, Burkina Faso, Guinea-Bissau, Nigeria and Niger — but not Sierra Leone and not Guinea. In Liberia it lists both Orange and Lonestar Cell MTN.
Useful if your route is Liberia plus Cote d'Ivoire and Ghana; useless for the Freetown run.
Check the price per gigabyte before you assume the regional is the smart buy. Both Africa regionals cost several times more per GB than a country plan. For a two-country trip it is often cheaper to buy two country plans than one regional. Our Sierra Leone, Guinea and Cote d'Ivoire guides have the country-plan side of that comparison.
Installation Guide
Before you travel
- 1
Check the phone actually supports eSIM
iPhone XS/XR and newer, recent Samsung and Google models, and it must not be carrier-locked. Our compatible devices list is the definitive check.
- 2
Buy the right shape of plan
Country plan for Liberia only; Africa regional if you are crossing a border. The QR code arrives by email.
- 3
Install on home Wi-Fi
Installing the profile needs an internet connection. Do it at home, not at the gate and definitely not on arrival.
On arrival in Liberia
- 4
Turn the eSIM line on and make it the data line
Leave your home SIM enabled for voice if you want it, but point mobile data at the eSIM.
- 5
Enable data roaming on the eSIM line
This is the single most common reason a working eSIM appears dead. A travel eSIM is roaming by design.
- 6
Let it register on Orange
Automatic selection should find 618-07. If you end up choosing by hand, choose Orange.
Where the Signal Really Is
Liberian coverage follows Monrovia and the paved corridors, and it thins out fast once you leave them. That is not a criticism of Orange, it is the shape of the country: a small coastal capital, a handful of highway towns, and a large, roadless, forested interior. Plan for the gaps rather than hoping they are not there.
Plan around this
- • Monrovia and its suburbs
- • Roberts International Airport and the road in
- • Buchanan, Kakata, Gbarnga
- • The paved highway towards the Sierra Leone and Guinea borders
- • Robertsport town itself
Assume no signal here
- • Sapo National Park and the forest interior
- • The south-east: Sinoe, Grand Kru, River Gee, Maryland
- • The coast beyond Robertsport and away from the towns
- • Unpaved county roads, especially in the rains
- • Most villages off the main routes
Two things that surprise people. First, the beach is not automatically covered: Robertsport is a town with a network, but the shoreline either side of it, and most of the coast between Monrovia and Harper, is not somewhere to count on a connection. Second, coverage and power are related. Grid electricity is limited and outages are routine, so a cell site that is fine in the morning can be unusable in the evening. Download offline maps for the whole route before you leave Monrovia.
What speed to expect
How Much Data You Actually Need
NGO and development staff
- • Budget 10-20GB a month: reporting, photo uploads and a lot of WhatsApp
- • Field days in the counties will be offline — sync in Monrovia, not in the field
- • Keep your home SIM active for voice; the eSIM cannot dial anything
- • For a posting of more than a month, buy a local Orange line once you land
Business travel
- • 5-10GB for a working week in Monrovia
- • Tethering a laptop eats a package in days — watch it
- • Monrovia is the only part of the country to schedule video calls from
- • Hotel Wi-Fi is a backup, not a plan
Visiting family
- • 5-10GB covers a couple of weeks of video calls home
- • Video calls run roughly 150-400MB an hour; voice-only stretches a package a long way
- • Outside the towns, home Wi-Fi is rare, so the eSIM carries the whole stay
- • Mobile money needs a Liberian number, which a data eSIM will not give you
Surf trip to Robertsport
- • 3-5GB is plenty for a week of forecasts, messaging and a few uploads
- • The town has coverage; the beaches either side of it often do not
- • Download the swell forecast and the offline map before you leave Monrovia
- • Upload video from the camp, not from the sand
Where People Go, and What the Signal Does There
In and around Monrovia
Providence Island
Where the first settlers from the American Colonization Society landed in 1822. Covered.
National Museum of Liberia
On Broad Street, in the centre. Covered.
The Masonic Temple
The hilltop landmark above the city, badly damaged in the civil war and since partly restored. Covered.
Marshall and the Farmington estuary
The nearest coastal escape from the city, about an hour out. Patchy away from the settlement.
Further out
Robertsport, Grand Cape Mount
The country's best-known surf break. The town has service; the point breaks and the beach camps are hit and miss.
Lake Piso
The large tidal lagoon behind Robertsport, and a Ramsar wetland site. Expect the signal to fade as you go round it.
Sapo National Park
Liberia's largest protected area and one of the last blocks of Upper Guinean rainforest. Treat it as entirely offline and go with an organised operator.
Buchanan and the road east
The FCDO notes the routes to Buchanan and towards the Sierra Leone and Guinea borders are mainly paved; most other roads are not, and become treacherous in the rains.
Troubleshooting
Bars, but nothing loads
- • Check data roaming is on for the eSIM line specifically, not just globally
- • Check the eSIM is set as the mobile data line, not just enabled
- • Check which network you are registered on: on a country plan it must be Orange / 618-07
- • If it says Lonestar, switch network selection back to automatic, or pick Orange manually
No service at all
- • Toggle airplane mode, then restart the phone
- • Try manual network selection and choose Orange
- • If you are outside a town, the honest answer may be that there is no network there
- • A VPN left running from home can stop a fresh profile attaching — turn it off first
Slow in Monrovia
- • Congestion is real in the evenings; early morning is consistently better
- • Power cuts at a cell site look exactly like a bad signal from your side
- • Move large uploads to hotel or office Wi-Fi rather than fighting it
It worked yesterday and not today
- • Check the remaining allowance and the validity window — both expire
- • Country plans stop at the border; if you crossed into Sierra Leone or Guinea, that is why
- • Charge the phone. Grid power is intermittent, so carry a power bank you trust
Emergency Numbers — and What They Really Get You
National emergency line
911
Reaches the Liberia National Police. 355 is also widely published for the same purpose and is worth trying if 911 fails.
Fire and ambulance
No reliable separate national dispatch
We are not going to publish numbers we cannot stand behind. The UK FCDO states in its Liberia travel advice that there is no effective public or private accident and emergency or ambulance service in the country.
Before you need any of this
- • Take your insurer's 24-hour assistance number with you. In Liberia that number, not 911, is your real emergency plan.
- • Save your own embassy's Monrovia number from its official website before you fly. We deliberately do not reprint embassy numbers: they change, and a wrong number in an emergency is worse than none.
- • Be ready to arrange private transport to hospital yourself. The main referral hospitals in Monrovia are JFK Medical Center and ELWA Hospital; get their current numbers from your employer, insurer or embassy rather than from a guide.
- • The FCDO warns that blood supplies are unreliable and unsafe and that most providers take cash only.
The data-only catch. Emergency numbers are dialled by voice, and a data-only eSIM profile has no voice line. Keep your home SIM active for calls, or carry a charged local handset, particularly on any leg of the trip that leaves Monrovia. And carry travel insurance that explicitly covers medical evacuation — in Liberia that is the difference between a plan and a hope.
Health and Safety, With Sources
Ebola: the epidemic is over
Liberia is not in an Ebola outbreak, and guides that still imply otherwise are doing the country a disservice. The WHO declared all known chains of transmission in West Africa stopped on 14 January 2016, and Liberia was declared free of Ebola transmission for the final time in June 2016. That chapter closed a decade ago.
What is actually current
- • Malaria: high risk throughout the country. UK NaTHNaC recommends antimalarial prophylaxis for all travellers.
- • Yellow fever: risk throughout the country, vaccination recommended for travellers from 9 months old. NaTHNaC posted a confirmed case in Grand Gedeh county in a notice dated 3 July 2026.
- • Lassa fever: NaTHNaC reported an outbreak in Bong, Bassa and Nimba counties in a notice dated 24 June 2026.
- • Medical facilities: the FCDO describes hospitals and medical facilities throughout Liberia as poorly equipped, with unreliable blood supplies and scarce quality medication.
Outbreak notices change. Check NaTHNaC (travelhealthpro.org.uk) and your own government's advice close to departure rather than trusting this page's dates.
Travel advisories
The US State Department has Liberia at Level 2, Exercise Increased Caution, citing crime and civil unrest. The FCDO advises getting security advice before travelling by road anywhere outside Monrovia, notes that most foreign nationals hire a car with a driver and travel in convoys of at least two vehicles, and flags that unpaved roads become treacherous or impassable during the rains from May to November. Read the current version of your own government's advice before booking.
Etiquette and Getting Along
English is the official language, which removes the friction a visitor meets in francophone neighbours — but Liberian English is its own thing, and roughly twenty indigenous languages are spoken alongside it. Listening properly is worth more than any phrasebook.
Do
- Greet before you ask. Skipping the greeting and going straight to the question reads as rude.
- Show deference to elders; handshakes are the norm, and the Liberian finger-snap handshake is worth learning.
- Dress modestly away from the beach, especially in the counties.
- Accept hospitality when it is offered — refusing food or drink outright can sting.
Do not
- Photograph people, and never government buildings, checkpoints or the airport, without asking.
- Open the civil wars as small talk. If someone raises it, listen; do not go looking for it.
- Assume Ebola is a conversation topic. For many people it is a bereavement, not an anecdote.
- Flash a phone in crowded markets or on public beaches — the State Department specifically flags street crime there.
Frequently Asked Questions
Which Liberian network does a Liberia eSIM actually connect to?
Our Liberia country plans — 1 GB to 20 GB — all declare exactly one operator: MCC-MNC 618-07, which is Orange Liberia. Our own coverage rows still carry that operator under its pre-2017 name, Cellcom, because Orange bought Cellcom in 2016 and rebranded it in 2017. Lonestar Cell MTN (618-01) is a real second Liberian network, and it is carried by our global and by the eSIMaccess Africa regional plans — but not by the Liberia country plans. So if your phone ever asks you to pick a network by hand while you are on a country plan, choose Orange or 618 07. Picking Lonestar will show you full bars and pass no data.
Will my Liberia eSIM work in Sierra Leone, Guinea or Cote d’Ivoire?
No. A Liberia country plan stops at the border. For a multi-country West African trip you need one of the two Africa regional plans in our catalogue, and they do not cover the same countries. The Airalo Africa regional lists 36 countries and includes Liberia, Sierra Leone, Guinea, Cote d’Ivoire, Ghana, Senegal and Gambia. The eSIMaccess Africa regional lists 29 countries: it includes Liberia and Cote d’Ivoire but not Sierra Leone and not Guinea. Check the exact country list before you buy, and expect to pay several times more per gigabyte than a country plan costs.
Is there an unlimited Liberia plan?
Not as a country plan. Everything we can sell for Liberia on its own is a fixed data bucket, from 1 GB for 7 days up to 20 GB for 30 days. The only unlimited product that touches Liberia is a global pay-as-you-go plan, which rides Lonestar Cell MTN there. If you see "unlimited Liberia" advertised anywhere, you are looking at a fair-usage policy, not an uncapped line.
How far outside Monrovia does coverage actually reach?
Coverage follows Monrovia, the main towns and the paved corridors. Monrovia and its suburbs, the road out to Roberts International Airport, Buchanan, Gbarnga, Kakata and the highway towards the Sierra Leonean and Guinean borders are the parts you can plan around. Sapo National Park, the south-east of the country, the unpaved county roads and the coastline beyond Robertsport are places to assume you will have no signal at all. Do not treat the Liberian coast as continuously covered because it is coast: it is not.
Is there 4G in Liberia, and is there 5G?
Every coverage row we hold for Liberia declares 4G. Not one of them declares a live 5G service that our profiles can use, so nothing on this page promises 5G. In practice 4G is what you get in Monrovia and the larger towns, dropping to 3G and then to 2G as you move away from them. Speeds vary a lot with congestion and with the power situation at the cell site.
What is the emergency number in Liberia?
911 is the national emergency number and it reaches the Liberia National Police; 355 is also widely published for the same purpose. Both are worth trying. What you should not assume is that a call gets answered or that an ambulance exists: the UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office states plainly in its Liberia travel advice that there is no effective public or private accident and emergency or ambulance service in the country, and the Australian government advises travellers that calls to 911 may go unanswered and to plan another way to get help. Travel insurance with medical evacuation is not optional here.
Do I need a yellow fever vaccination for Liberia?
Yellow fever vaccination is recommended for essentially all travellers to Liberia, because there is yellow fever transmission risk throughout the country. On the certificate requirement, sources differ: the UK NaTHNaC guidance states that under the International Health Regulations a certificate is required for travellers aged 9 months or over arriving from countries with risk of yellow fever transmission, and the US CDC states the vaccine is required for travellers aged 1 year or over arriving from a country with transmission risk. Many travellers report the yellow card being checked on arrival regardless of route, and proof is commonly asked for with a Liberian visa application. Get vaccinated, carry the certificate, and confirm the current rule with a Liberian embassy before you fly.
Is Ebola still a reason not to travel to Liberia?
No. The 2014–2016 West Africa epidemic is over. The WHO declared all known chains of transmission in West Africa stopped on 14 January 2016, and Liberia was declared free of Ebola transmission for the final time in June 2016. There is no Ebola outbreak in Liberia. The health notices that actually apply to a trip today are different ones: NaTHNaC has posted a confirmed yellow fever case in Grand Gedeh county (notice dated 3 July 2026) and a Lassa fever outbreak in Bong, Bassa and Nimba counties (notice dated 24 June 2026), and malaria risk is high across the whole country. Check the current notices for yourself before you travel.
Can I call or text from the eSIM?
No. These are data-only profiles. They give you a data connection, not a Liberian phone number, so WhatsApp, Signal, Teams and internet calling all work, but a dialled voice call and an SMS do not. That matters in two specific ways in Liberia: emergency numbers are dialled by voice, and mobile money in Liberia is tied to a local number you will not have. Keep your home SIM active for voice if you can, or get a local Orange or Lonestar SIM if you will be there for weeks.
Ready for Liberia?
One network, 4G, and no surprises about where it stops
Get Your Liberia eSIM