A local line in Togo costs a fraction of any travel eSIM: Yas sells 8 GB for thirty days at 5,000 CFA francs, about 9 dollars, and Moov Africa sells 30 GB for 9,000. The cheapest month from a travel eSIM is Airalo's 5 GB at 34 dollars, on the same Moov network. Registration is also lighter than in several neighbouring countries. Under Decree 2024-071 a visitor needs to turn up in person with an original passport and have a photo taken; there is no fingerprint step for visitors in the decree, and stays of up to 180 days are exempt from the national ID number. The one thing to know before you land is that Togocom no longer exists under that name. It became Yas in November 2024.
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Yas and Moov Africa, and Nobody Else
Togo licenses two mobile operators, and a visitor's whole decision is which of them to stand in line for. ARCEP's observatory for the first quarter of 2026 put Yas Togo at 56.9 percent of active lines and Moov Africa Togo at 43.1 percent, out of just under ten million in total.
Yas is the name you will hear least from older Togolese and see most on new billboards. Until November 2024 the company was Togocom, the group formed when the state's Togo Cellulaire and Togo Telecom were privatised and handed to Agou Holding, the vehicle through which the Axian group controls it. Axian rebranded five of its African telecom businesses as Yas that month, and TMoney, the wallet many Togolese use daily, became Mixx by Yas. If a taxi driver tells you to buy a Togocel card, he means Yas.
Moov Africa Togo belongs to Maroc Telecom, which bought Etisalat's Moov subsidiaries across West Africa in 2015. It is the smaller network but not a weak one, and it matters to travellers for a specific reason: it is the host network for both travel eSIMs sold for Togo, Airalo and Nomad. Its wallet is Flooz.
Which one to buy
For Lomé and the N1 corridor either will do. Yas claims the bigger 4G+ and 5G footprint and carries the majority of the country's lines, so it is the safer pick for a trip into the hills around Kpalimé or the villages of Koutammakou beyond Kara. Moov has the one product built for arrivals, the airport kit described below. A sensible pairing is an eSIM on Moov for landing and a Yas card bought in town for the road.
The Yas Net Bundles, Priced in CFA Francs
Yas publishes its prepaid data offers as a ladder of Net bundles, each activated with a *909# code. These are the ones that matter for a visitor, from the operator's own page in October 2026. The CFA franc is pegged to the euro at 655.957, which puts it at roughly 570 to the US dollar at current rates.
| Bundle | Data | Validity | Price | Code |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Net1500 | 2.5 GB | 7 days | 1,500 CFA (about $2.60) | *909*222# |
| Net3999 | 15 GB, then slower | 7 days | 3,999 CFA (about $7) | *909*223# |
| Net5000 | 8 GB | 30 days | 5,000 CFA (about $8.80) | *909*232# |
| Net10000 | 20 GB | 30 days | 10,000 CFA (about $17.50) | *909*233# |
| Air Fiber | 60 GB | 30 days | 15,000 CFA (about $26) | *909*234# |
| Net500 Nuit | 3 GB, 22:00 to 06:00 | One night | 500 CFA (under $1) | *909*215# |
Set those against the travel eSIMs and the gap is wide. Yas's 8 GB month costs about a quarter of Airalo's 5 GB month at 34 dollars, and Net3999 gives a week of heavy use for the price of a sandwich at the airport. The night bundles are a local quirk worth knowing: if you have big uploads or app updates, queue them for after ten in the evening.
The new carry-over rule
After talks between ARCEP and both operators, Togo introduced consumer rules in February 2026 that let unused data carry over if you renew the same bundle within 10 days of expiry for short bundles, or 30 days for monthly ones, and moved mobile internet to per-byte billing. Yas prints the carry-over terms on each bundle. For a traveller it means leftover gigabytes on a monthly plan are not lost the moment the month ends, provided you buy the same plan again.
Yas also sells its own eSIM online at shop.yas.tg, delivered by email within minutes, but the page says payment is through Mixx by Yas and the online route is for new customers. In practice that needs a Togolese wallet you will not have before you arrive, so for a visitor it is an agency purchase like any other.
Moov's iZi Ladder and the Kit Sold Only at the Airport
Moov Africa Togo's data bundles are branded iZi and dialled from *400#. Its monthly options are slightly more generous than Yas's at the top end.
| Offer | What you get | Validity | Price |
|---|---|---|---|
| iZi Wik | 2 GB | 7 days | 1,000 CFA |
| iZi Small 1 | 6 GB | 10 days | 2,500 CFA |
| iZi Medium 1 | 15 GB | 15 days | 5,000 CFA |
| iZi Medium 2 | 30 GB | 30 days | 9,000 CFA (about $15.80) |
| iZi Large | 75 GB | 30 days | 15,000 CFA |
| Kit Aéroport Or | 6 GB, 100 local minutes, 5 international minutes, 500 CFA credit | 30 days | 5,000 CFA |
| Kit Aéroport Diamant | 15 GB, 240 local minutes, 10 international minutes, 1,000 CFA credit | 30 days | 10,000 CFA |
The two airport kits are the unusual part. Moov's site says they are sold only at its agency at the Aéroport International Gnassingbé Eyadéma, and unlike airport packs in many countries they are not marked up: 6 GB plus calls for a month at 5,000 CFA is in line with the town ladder. The international minutes cover a list that includes France, Germany, Spain, Canada and the United States, which is handy for a first call home. The catch is purely practical. The kit exists only at that one counter, and we could not confirm its opening hours against the late-evening Ethiopian and ASKY arrival bank.
Two Moov details worth knowing
Moov offers its own eSIM to customers whose phones support it, requested through the operator rather than bought as a travel product, and you can switch a line to it at an agency. Moov also lets customers transfer megabytes between lines, which is useful if one person in a travelling group runs out before the others.
Decree 2024-071: Passport, Photo and a 180-Day Clock
Togo tightened SIM registration with Decree 2024-071 of 26 December 2024, published in the official journal on 23 April 2025. It requires every operator to identify every subscriber, keep the database current and report on it quarterly to ARCEP. The rules for a foreign visitor are set out in its Article 15, and they are more forgiving than the biometric regimes in some neighbouring countries.
What happens when you buy a line
1. Go in person. The decree requires the subscriber's physical presence, so a friend or a hotel cannot buy one for you.
2. Present an original travel document. For non-nationals the accepted documents are a Togolese residence card, a consular card or any travel document recognised in Togo, which for a visitor means the passport itself, not a photocopy.
3. The agent takes your photo and checks it against the passport. The decree also asks for profession and records the GPS position of the point of sale.
4. Visitors staying up to 180 days do not need Togo's national identification number, the NIU. After 180 days the operator deactivates the SIM unless a NIU is attached, which matters only to long-stay NGO staff and contractors.
5. Load a bundle by USSD or ask the agent to do it, then test data before you leave.
There is no fingerprint capture written into the visitor process, and in an official agency the whole thing usually takes ten to twenty minutes when it is quiet. Two limits are worth knowing. Children under 15 cannot subscribe alone and need a parent present with their own documents. And a 2021 order caps each person at three SIM cards per operator, so a family cannot register a stack of lines on one passport.
Street sellers
You will be offered cards by roadside vendors under branded parasols all over Lomé. Many sell credit and bundles perfectly legitimately, but a line that has been pre-registered in someone else's name breaks the decree and can be cut off when the operators audit their databases. Register in your own name at a branded agency.
Mixx by Yas, Flooz and Getting Around Lomé
The strongest argument for a local line in Togo is not data, it is money. ARCEP puts mobile money penetration at almost 60 percent of the population, and the two wallets, Mixx by Yas and Moov's Flooz, are how many Togolese pay market stalls, school fees and electricity bills. A registered local number is the only way a visitor can open either, and both are opened through the operator once the line is registered; a travel eSIM gives you data and nothing else.
The other piece of the local stack is Gozem, the ride-hailing and delivery app that launched in Togo in 2018 and now runs across French-speaking West and Central Africa. It books motorbike taxis, cars and tricycles in Lomé with the fare shown in advance, which takes the haggling out of a zemidjan ride. It works on any data connection, including an eSIM, but it asks for a phone number at sign-up, so having a Togolese number makes the driver's call to find you a local one rather than an international one.
For a trip up country
North of Atakpamé the cash economy takes over and card terminals become rare. Top-up scratch cards and credit transfers are sold in every market town along the N1, from Sokodé to Kara, so recharging a local line on the road is easy. Recharging an eSIM needs a card payment through an app and a working data connection at the moment you run out, which is the wrong order of events on a long drive.
Which Fits a Trip to Togo
On price the local card wins easily. The case for the eSIM rests on timing, and on what you want working when the aircraft door opens.
Buy a Yas or Moov line when
Use an eSIM when
Both travel eSIMs ride Moov, so there is no coverage reason to choose one over the other; the Togo eSIM guide compares their verified prices, the Lomé airport guide covers the terminal agency and the ride into town, and the eSIM Finder will size a plan to your dates.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is a Togocel or Togocom card the same as a Yas card?
Yes. Togo Cellulaire, marketed as Togocel and later as part of Togocom, is the mobile arm of what is now Yas Togo. The Axian group changed the brand in November 2024. Older cards, receipts and shop signs still carry the previous names, and they all connect to the same network.
What document does a tourist need to register a line in Togo?
An original passport, presented in person. Decree 2024-071 accepts any travel document recognised in Togo for foreigners, and the agent photographs you at the counter. Visitors staying less than 180 days do not need the national NIU number, but the line is deactivated after 180 days unless one is added.
Is the Moov airport kit better value than a bundle in town?
It is about the same, which is unusual for an airport product. The Kit Or costs 5,000 CFA for 6 GB, 100 local minutes and 5 international minutes over thirty days. In town, 5,000 CFA buys Moov's iZi Medium 1 with 15 GB for fifteen days but no minutes. The kit is sold only at Moov's agency in the Lomé terminal.
Can I buy the Yas eSIM online before I fly?
Probably not. Yas sells eSIMs on its online shop with the QR code sent by email, but checkout is through Mixx by Yas, its own mobile wallet, and the online option is aimed at new customers already in Togo. A visitor without a Togolese wallet will need to visit a Yas agency, where an eSIM can be issued instead of a plastic card.
Which network should I pick for Kara and the north?
Yas is the larger network and generally the safer choice once you leave the main road beyond Kara, towards the Koutammakou villages or Dapaong. Moov holds up well along the N1 itself. Because the travel eSIMs use Moov, a Yas card is a sensible second line for anyone spending real time up country.