Before You Book: What the Advisories Say
We sell eSIMs, so we are not the right people to tell you whether to go to Niger. What we can do is put the official position in front of you instead of writing around it, because almost everyone reading this page is travelling for work rather than for a holiday.
UK Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office
The FCDO advises against all travel to Niger — the entire country, Niamey included — citing the kidnapping of foreign nationals by terrorist and criminal groups, the risk of attacks nationwide, and continuing instability since the military coup of July 2023. Advice last updated 29 August 2026.
The same advice records frequent attacks in the Diffa and Tillaberi regions, banditry in Maradi, Tillaberi and Diffa, and attacks on the Tahoua-Agadez, Agadez-Arlit and Ouagadougou-Niamey roads. It states that “British nationals are seen as legitimate targets, including tourists, humanitarian aid workers, journalists and business travellers”.
Advisories differ between governments and they change. Read your own foreign ministry’s current page before booking — not this one, and not a travel blog — and follow your employer or mission security briefing while you are in country. Nothing below should be read as encouragement to travel against that advice.
Quick Facts About Niger
Niger is not Nigeria. Niger (NE) is landlocked Sahel, capital Niamey, dialling code +227, CFA franc, French-speaking. Nigeria (NG) is the coastal federation to the south, capital Abuja, dialling code +234, naira, English-speaking. Separate operators, separate eSIM plans, and a plan for one will not work in the other. Our Nigeria eSIM guide is here if you landed on the wrong page.
General Information
- • Capital: Niamey
- • Currency: West African CFA franc (XOF)
- • Official language: French; Hausa and Zarma widely spoken
- • Area: about 1,267,000 km², roughly four fifths desert
- • Time zone: WAT (UTC+1), no daylight saving
- • ISO code: NE (Nigeria is NG)
Practical Information
- • Dialling code: +227 (Nigeria is +234)
- • Power plug: Type C/E/F, 220V
- • Emergency: 17 police, 18 fire, 15 ambulance
- • Main airport: Diori Hamani International, Niamey (NIM)
- • Visa: required for most nationalities — check the current rules with the Nigerien mission accredited to your country, as they have changed since 2023
- • Network your eSIM uses: Airtel Niger (614-02)
The Network You Actually Get
Niger has four licensed mobile network codes in the ITU register under MCC 614: 614-01 SahelCom (the state network under Niger Telecoms), 614-02 Airtel, 614-03 Moov and 614-04 Orange. Most eSIM pages list all of them as though your eSIM could pick any one. It cannot. Here is what each of our plan families declares in Niger, checked against our own network records rather than against the operator list.
Niger country plans (1 GB / 7 days to 20 GB / 30 days)
One network: MCC-MNC 614-02, recorded in our data under its legacy brand name Celtel and trading today as Airtel Niger. The ITU register lists 614-02 as Airtel, formerly Zain, formerly Celtel — the label is stale, the network is not. Declared as 4G.
Niger unlimited plans (3, 5, 7 and 10 days)
Same single network: Celtel / Airtel Niger, 4G. These are sold through a different upstream than the country plans, but they land on the same radio, so choosing between them is a question of price and validity, not of coverage.
Discover Global plans
In Niger these declare the same one network, Airtel Niger. A global plan buys you coverage in many other countries; inside Niger it does not buy you a second network to fall back on.
Africa regional plan (29 countries)
The only family with two networks in Niger: it lists Orange and Airtel. Our records list those Niger entries at 3G, not 4G, so treat it as a coverage-breadth option rather than a speed upgrade.
What no plan of ours reaches
Moov Africa Niger (614-03) and SahelCom / Niger Telecoms (614-01) appear in none of our network records for Niger. If a guide tells you to look for Moov or Niger Telecom in your operator list, that advice does not apply to an eSIM bought from us. And Orange only appears on the Africa regional plan — not on the Niger country plan, however francophone the country is.
On 5G: nothing we sell in Niger is 5G, and we are not going to imply otherwise. Every Niger record in our catalogue is 4G at best, and the regional plan is listed at 3G.
Coverage Reality: Where the Signal Stops
Niger is about 1.27 million square kilometres and overwhelmingly desert. Coverage follows people and roads, which in Niger means a band across the south and a handful of northern towns. Treating the rest of the map as “weak signal” rather than “no signal” is how people get into trouble, so we will be blunt about it.
The official wording
“There is minimal infrastructure in rural or desert areas, including a lack of phone signal or access to healthcare, food and water.”
— UK FCDO travel advice for Niger, safety and security section
Where mobile data is normal
- • Niamey and its immediate surroundings
- • The main southern towns — Maradi, Zinder, Dosso, Tahoua
- • Agadez town itself, as a populated centre
- • The paved corridor along the southern belt
Where you should plan for none
- • The Air Massif and the Tenere desert
- • Trans-Saharan routes and the Agadez-Arlit desert road
- • The Termit and Djado areas and the far north generally
- • Long stretches between towns on unpaved roads
- • Much of the Diffa and Lake Chad basin periphery
If you are going beyond the towns, the communications plan is a satellite messenger or satellite phone with a check-in schedule, and the eSIM is the thing that works again when you get back to a town. Do not build a movement plan on the assumption that you can call for help from the desert. Note also that satellite equipment is controlled in a number of Sahel states — clear it with your organisation and check import rules before you fly with it.
We are not publishing a coverage percentage for Niger. The figures circulating on eSIM sites are not traceable to any operator or regulator disclosure we can verify, and in a country where the gap between the map and the ground can matter to your safety, a made-up number is worse than none.
Niger eSIM Pricing & Plans
💰 Loading current Niger eSIM prices…
Crossing Borders: The Regional Option, Honestly
A Niger country plan works inside Niger and nowhere else. If your itinerary crosses into Burkina Faso, Mali, Chad or Nigeria, the option in our catalogue is the 29-country Africa regional plan, and Niger is genuinely on its country list. It is sold in 1 GB / 7 days, 3 GB / 30 days and 5 GB / 30 days sizes.
What it gives you
- • One profile across Niger and 28 other African countries
- • Two networks in Niger rather than one (Orange and Airtel)
- • No re-install at each border
What it costs you
- • Several times more per gigabyte than the Niger country plan
- • Listed at 3G in Niger, not 4G
- • Small sizes only — no 10 or 20 GB tier
A warning worth more than the plan itself: not every “Africa regional” eSIM includes Niger. The widely sold Airalo Africa regional package covers a long list of African countries — Nigeria among them — but Niger is not on it. Because the two names look so alike, it is easy to read Nigeria on a coverage list and assume you are covered in Niger. You are not. Check for the letters NE, not NG, before you fly.
Installation Guide
Install before you fly. Downloading an eSIM profile needs internet, and the one place you cannot rely on getting it is the arrivals hall. Install and label the profile on home or office wi-fi, then simply switch it on when you land. The profile download is also one-time: if you delete the profile from the handset, it cannot be downloaded again.
📱 iPhone
- 1.Settings → Cellular → Add eSIM
- 2.Scan the QR code from your order, on wi-fi, before departure
- 3.Label it clearly — “Niger”, not “Africa”
- 4.Set it as your default line for data only, keeping your home number for calls
- 5.Turn Data Roaming ON for that line — an eSIM will not connect without it
🤖 Android
- 1.Settings → Network & Internet → SIMs
- 2.Tap the + beside Mobile Network
- 3.Choose “Download a SIM instead?”
- 4.Scan the QR code and follow the prompts
- 5.Enable the profile and switch Roaming on for it
Who Actually Travels to Niger
Niger is under an advise-against-all-travel notice from the UK FCDO as of its 29 August 2026 update, and similar restrictions apply from other governments. The people who travel to Niger today are overwhelmingly doing so for work, with organisational security backing. The profiles below are written for them rather than for tourists, and none of this is a recommendation to travel against your own government’s advice.
Humanitarian and NGO staff
Programme staff, logisticians and field teams working out of Niamey with movements into the southern regions. By volume this is who travels to Niger.
Data needs
8-15 GB per month
What we would buy
A 10 GB country plan covers a month of reporting, coordination and messaging from Niamey and the regional towns. Field movements need a satellite plan behind it, not a bigger data bundle.
Practical notes:
- ✓Install and test the profile before you fly — arrivals wi-fi is not a plan
- ✓Keep the eSIM as data and your home number live for two-factor codes
- ✓Agree a check-in schedule that works when the phone has no signal at all
- ✓Download offline maps for every route before leaving a covered town
- ✓Follow your organisation security briefing over anything you read online
Journalists and documentary crews
Reporting trips, usually short, usually upload-heavy, usually on a deadline that does not care about bandwidth.
Data needs
15-25 GB, or a short unlimited plan
What we would buy
If the whole trip is under ten days and you are filing video, one of the short unlimited plans can work out simpler than stacking bundles. Below that, a 20 GB country plan is far cheaper per gigabyte.
Practical notes:
- ✓Upload from Niamey rather than trying to file from the road
- ✓Expect 4G at best — nothing in Niger is 5G on any plan we sell
- ✓Photographing checkpoints, airports and military sites gets equipment seized
- ✓Unlimited plans carry a fair-use policy; do not plan a whole edit around one
- ✓Carry a second handset with the profile already installed if the story matters
Mining and energy contractors
Uranium, oil and infrastructure work, often rotating through Niamey to sites in the north or the south-east.
Data needs
10-20 GB per rotation
What we would buy
Connectivity is a town-and-camp affair. Budget generously for the days you are in Niamey and assume the site itself runs on whatever VSAT or private link the operator has installed.
Practical notes:
- ✓The Agadez-Arlit road has no coverage and is named in the FCDO advisory
- ✓Ask your employer what the site link is before assuming your phone will work
- ✓Keep an offline copy of every document you might need in transit
- ✓Site access and movement approvals change quickly — confirm on the day
- ✓Check your evacuation cover is valid for a country under an all-travel advisory
Diplomatic and mission staff
Embassy and international-organisation postings and short official visits, based almost entirely in Niamey.
Data needs
10-20 GB per month
What we would buy
A commercial eSIM is a convenience line for maps, messaging and personal calls alongside mission communications. It is not, and should not be used as, a secure channel.
Practical notes:
- ✓Treat the eSIM as an open commercial line — official traffic belongs on official systems
- ✓Save your own duty officer number offline before arrival
- ✓Register with your ministry traveller notification service
- ✓Keep the home number active so home-country contacts still reach you
- ✓Have a printed fallback for anything you would otherwise look up on a phone
Researchers and academics
Fieldwork, archives, and institutional collaborations — usually arranged through a Nigerien university or research partner.
Data needs
5-12 GB per month
What we would buy
A 5 or 10 GB country plan is normally plenty when the institution has wi-fi. Buy the smaller one first; you can always add a second plan.
Practical notes:
- ✓Back up fieldwork to the cloud whenever you are back on a connection
- ✓Research permits and photography permissions are separate things — get both
- ✓French is the working language of almost every institution
- ✓Plan data-heavy work around the days you are in Niamey
- ✓Offline dictionaries and offline maps save more data than anything else
Short business visits
Supplier meetings, audits and regional-office visits, generally two or three days in Niamey and nothing beyond it.
Data needs
3-5 GB
What we would buy
The smallest country plan is usually enough for a few days of email, maps and messaging when the hotel has wi-fi. Video calls are what will break that budget.
Practical notes:
- ✓An hour of daily video calling will eat a 10 GB plan in about a fortnight
- ✓Carry cash — card acceptance is limited outside a handful of Niamey hotels
- ✓Confirm meetings the morning of; schedules move
- ✓Keep the eSIM for data and your home number for calls and codes
- ✓Know your embassy contact details before you land
🏜️ Niger connectivity in one box
- • One network: a Niger country plan uses Airtel Niger (614-02) and nothing else
- • Speed ceiling: 4G at best; the Africa regional plan is listed at 3G here
- • Where it works: Niamey and the southern towns
- • Where it does not: the Air Massif, the Ténéré and every trans-Saharan route
- • Language: French, for everything official
- • Power: outages are routine — travel with a power bank
📱 What to install before you fly
- • Offline maps: download the whole country while you still have wi-fi
- • Offline French: a downloaded language pack, not the online one
- • WhatsApp: the default way people communicate locally
- • Your eSIM profile: installed and labelled before departure
- • A currency converter: the CFA franc is pegged to the euro
- • Cloud sync: so field notes survive a lost handset
- • Your embassy details: saved offline, from the official site
- • Your organisation duty line: written down, not only in the phone
Why an eSIM Rather Than a Local SIM
The usual argument for an eSIM is convenience. In Niger the argument is narrower and more practical: you arrive already connected, without a trip to a shop and without handing over identity documents to a retail agent.
Connected on arrival
Your ride, your security contact and your office are reachable from the aircraft steps, not after a queue.
Your home number stays live
Two-factor codes keep arriving on the number your bank and your employer already have.
Nothing to register locally
No SIM registration formalities, no photocopied passport left in a shop.
Predictable cost
A fixed prepaid bundle instead of a home-carrier roaming bill you only see a month later.
Set up in advance
Install and test at home, so an arrival problem is never a connectivity problem too.
What it is not
An eSIM does not give you more coverage than the host network has. Where Airtel Niger has no mast, an eSIM has no service.
Troubleshooting
No service after landing
Check Data Roaming is ON for the eSIM line — this is the single most common cause, and an eSIM will not attach without it. Then toggle airplane mode for thirty seconds. If it still will not attach, open the network selection list manually and pick Airtel or the entry shown as 614 02 / Celtel. On a Niger country plan that is the only network your profile is entitled to use, so selecting anything else will leave you with no data.
Signal but no data
A bar of signal can be an emergency-only registration. Confirm the line shown in the status bar is the eSIM and not your home SIM, then check the APN was provisioned automatically — a restart after the first successful attach usually settles it.
Your handset connects to a Nigerian network
Along the long southern border, Nigerian networks are frequently the strongest thing on the air, and handsets are perfectly happy to camp on them. A Niger plan will not work on a Nigerian network. If you see MTN, Glo or a 621-xx code in the operator list, select the Niger network manually — and be aware that if your home SIM is still active it may pick up the roaming charge instead.
Nothing at all outside the towns
This is not a fault. Most of Niger has no cellular infrastructure of any operator. Nothing in the handset settings will fix it, and no eSIM brand covers it. See the coverage section above.
Emergency Numbers
🚨 National emergency numbers
- • Police: 17
- • Fire / civil protection: 18
- • Ambulance: 15
These three are the numbers we can verify. We have deliberately not listed a 112 or a gendarmerie short code for Niger: we could not confirm them, and a wrong emergency number is worse than no number.
🏥 Getting help as a foreign national
- • Save your own embassy or consulate number from your foreign ministry’s own website before you travel — do not copy it from a travel page, this one included.
- • Register with your embassy’s traveller notification service if it has one.
- • Carry your organisation’s 24-hour security or duty line separately from your phone.
- • Confirm your medical and evacuation cover is valid for Niger — many policies exclude countries under an advise-against-all-travel notice.
Cultural and Practical Notes
Worth doing ✅
- • Greet properly before getting to the point — greetings matter
- • Work in French; download the offline French pack before you fly
- • Dress modestly; Niger is overwhelmingly Muslim
- • Ask before photographing anyone
- • Carry cash — card acceptance is limited outside a few Niamey hotels
- • Download offline maps for anywhere you will drive
Worth avoiding ❌
- • Photographing military sites, checkpoints, airports or government buildings — this is taken seriously and phones get seized
- • Posting your live location or movement plans publicly
- • Eating or drinking in public during daylight in Ramadan
- • Using the left hand to eat or to pass things
- • Debating national politics or security with people you have just met
- • Assuming a road that looks fine on a map is open — check locally on the day
Frequently Asked Questions
Is this the guide for Niger or for Nigeria?
This is Niger — the landlocked Sahel republic whose capital is Niamey, country code NE, dialling code +227, currency the West African CFA franc. Nigeria is the much larger coastal federation to the south, capital Abuja, code NG, dialling code +234, currency the naira. They are two separate countries with separate mobile operators and separate eSIM plans, and the names look almost identical in a search box. If you meant Nigeria, our Nigeria eSIM guide is linked at the top of this page. A Niger plan will not work in Nigeria and a Nigeria plan will not work in Niger.
Which network does a Niger eSIM actually connect to?
Every Niger country plan in our catalogue, the Niger unlimited plans and the Discover Global plans all declare one network in Niger: MCC-MNC 614-02, listed in our data under its old brand name Celtel and operating today as Airtel Niger. The ITU register records 614-02 as Airtel, formerly Zain, formerly Celtel. The one exception is the 29-country Africa regional plan, which lists both Orange and Airtel in Niger. No plan we sell reaches Moov Africa Niger (614-03) or SahelCom, the state network under Niger Telecoms (614-01), so if you have been told those are the networks to look for, they are not the ones your eSIM will register on.
Do we sell a Niger plan at all, or only a regional one?
Both. There is a live Niger country family from 1 GB / 7 days up to 20 GB / 30 days, a set of Niger unlimited plans sold in 3, 5, 7 and 10-day validities, and Niger is one of the 29 countries on the Africa regional plan. The prices in the widget on this page are pulled live from that catalogue rather than typed into the page, so they stay current.
Will my eSIM work outside Niamey?
In the regional towns, generally yes. Beyond them, plan for nothing. The FCDO states plainly that in Niger "there is minimal infrastructure in rural or desert areas, including a lack of phone signal or access to healthcare, food and water". Niger is mostly Sahara: the Air Massif, the Tenere, the Arlit and Agadez desert roads and the trans-Saharan routes have no cellular coverage at all, and no eSIM changes that. If your work takes you off the paved network, a satellite messenger or satellite phone is the communications plan and the eSIM is the backup, not the other way round.
Is it safe to travel to Niger?
That is not a verdict a connectivity page should hand you, but the advisories are unambiguous and we are not going to bury them. As of its 29 August 2026 update, the UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office advises against all travel to Niger — the whole country, Niamey included — citing terrorist and criminal kidnapping of foreign nationals, attack risk nationwide and continuing instability since the July 2023 military coup. The FCDO notes frequent attacks in the Diffa and Tillaberi regions, banditry in Maradi, Tillaberi and Diffa, and attacks on the Tahoua-Agadez, Agadez-Arlit and Ouagadougou-Niamey roads, and states that "British nationals are seen as legitimate targets, including tourists, humanitarian aid workers, journalists and business travellers". Read your own government advisory before you book, and follow your employer or mission security briefing while you are there.
Can I use one eSIM across Niger and its neighbours?
Only on the Africa regional plan. The Niger country plan works inside Niger and stops at the border. The 29-country Africa regional plan does cover Niger alongside Nigeria, Mali, Burkina Faso, Chad, Senegal, Ghana and Cote d’Ivoire among others, which is the one to look at if you are moving between them — but it costs several times more per gigabyte than the Niger country plan, and our records list it at 3G in Niger rather than 4G. Note also that Airalo’s Africa regional plan does not include Niger at all, so a regional plan bought elsewhere may quietly leave you with no service the moment you cross in.
How much data should I budget?
For a short Niamey posting where the office and the hotel both have wi-fi, 3-5 GB over a month is realistic for maps, messaging, email and the occasional call. Video calls are what actually burn data: an hour a day of video will take a 10 GB plan through a fortnight on its own. If you will be filing reports or uploading photo and video from the field, budget 10-20 GB. The unlimited plans exist but are sold in 3 to 10-day validities at prices far above the per-gigabyte plans, and like all unlimited eSIM products they carry a fair-use policy, so they only make sense for a short, upload-heavy trip.
Travelling to Niger for work?
One network, live prices, and no promises about the desert.
Heading to Nigeria instead? That guide is here.
See Niger eSIM Plans