We traveled in Guinea-Bissau for 12 days in March/April 2025. This is how we got a SIM card in Guinea-Bissau to stay connected and work online from Cacheu, Bissau, and Bubaque

Which SIM Card in Guinea-Bissau is Best?

Orange. In Guinea-Bissau, the telecom infrastructure is still in its infancy. Orange has the best coverage in the country, but it’s still not reliably great, even in towns. However, when it’s good, it’s great, with 4G or 4G+. However, SIM card shops might not be open when you arrive on a weekend or a holiday, so it’s more important that you take what you can get first before trying to optimize your situation.

Should you buy a SIM card in Guinea-Bissau? Absolutely. Relying on hotel WiFi is a terrible strategy; every single hotel (from cheap to fancy) has had unstable or no WiFi. Treat yourself to a big data package once you have your SIM and tether your phone. Getting a top-up for more mobile data was never an issue anywhere in the country.

Don’t (Yet) Get a Bissau-Guinean eSIM Before Arrival

Before traveling from Senegal to Guinea-Bissau, we considered getting an Airalo eSIM before crossing the border on a Saturday. I managed to get an MTN SIM card in Guinea-Bissau right after the land border. But the connection at our accommodation in Cacheu wasn’t great, so Jonas still got an eSIM: €9 for 1 GB of data, valid for one week. He double-checked that the Spicetel eSIM connects to the Orange network before buying it. Otherwise it would defeat the purpose.

However, the eSIM didn’t provide a better connection in Cacheu. And also when we traveled from Cacheu to Canchungo and Bissau, things didn’t improve. At some point during our one-night stay in Bissau, the eSIM started to work well, but that stopped again. We considered trying to ask for our €9 for 1 GB of data back, but I guess Jonas did use it successfully a little bit.

I asked our former travel buddy Zach for a second opinion. He confirmed that the Airalo eSIM for Guinea-Bissau sucked. And the WiFi in most places also sucks. So no, I currently (March 2025) don’t recommend getting an eSIM for Guinea-Bissau. Get the Orange SIM card instead! However, if you have better experiences with your eSIM, please comment below so other travelers can weigh their options. Anyway, here’s still the discount code I have for Airalo if you’re not dissuaded:

SIM Card Options in Guinea-Bissau: Orange + MTN (Telecel)

There are currently only two telecom providers in Guinea-Bissau: Orange and MTN. Orange Bissau is operated by Senegal’s Sonatel/Orange, which itself is owned largely by the French Orange Group. MTN Bissau is South African and the networks are operated by the MTN Group and Telecel. There’s currently no Bissau-Guinean owned telecom provider operating in the country.

Getting an MTN SIM Card in São Domingos

After crossing the border from Senegal into Guinea-Bissau, we ended up in São Domingos. We had a few hours before our pirogue ride to Cacheu. After lunch, I decided to see if I could buy an Orange SIM card in the town. But, it was a Saturday during Ramadan, so things weren’t looking promising. A Portuguese man running the shop in the village wore an Orange t-shirt and I asked him where the shop was. He gave me directions and I found it (coordinates: 12.40138° N, 16.19539° W). But it was closed.

At another shop (coordinates: 12.40108° N, 16.19633° W), I asked for a SIM card. The owner grabbed a stack of MTN SIM cards. I asked if he has Orange, but he didn’t have those. He said it’s 750 for the SIM card and 1000 for the 1 GB of data (valid for one week). I decided to go for it. There was no registration necessary, no passport. The man helped me put it in my phone and activated it for me. He used his old phone to transfer the balance and book the internet package. I walked back to Jonas and everything was working well in São Domingos. The SIM card itself comes with 300 MB of data.

Later in Cacheu, the MTN SIM card only worked well in specific corners of the Hotel Carrene Tours Village where we were staying. That’s when we decided to also get an Airalo eSIM, which ended up being a mistake.

Buying Two Orange SIM Cards in Bissau

When we traveled to Bissau two days later, we dropped off our stuff in the hotel and quickly went to the Orange Agência Principal in the city center at the Praça do Império. It’s a building with AC running, even when the rest of the city is without electricity. There’s a desk where we asked for cartão SIM and were asked to sit down. There’s a snaking queue so you sometimes have to move seats more forward. I noticed not everyone is that patient, and one guy was repeatedly told to sit his ass back down because it wasn’t his turn.

It was our turn, and I immediately asked for two Orange SIM cards. I could register two of them on one passport. They forgot the second one at first, so she had to start the process again. I was sitting at the desk, staring at the various anti-corruption posters on the walls. It’s quite a bureaucratic process here. With the second SIM registered and our phone numbers written down on a piece of post-it, we walked to the payment booth. Both SIM cards cost only 500 XOF (€0.76 or US$0.82). Not sure if that was a mistake on their end to not charge us for the second SIM card. Either way, a new record.

We sat back down and installed both SIM cards into our phones. My dual-SIM phone came in handy once again, allowing me to keep operating my MTN SIM card alongside the Orange SIM card. However, the Orange SIM card in Guinea-Bissau has much better coverage.

Right outside the main Orange office are also unauthorized SIM card vendors. They will try to sell you a SIM card registered in someone else’s name. Skip queue and bureaucratic office, maybe pay a little more, but also deal with high-intensity people who are all talking through each other. The choice is yours.

Now all we had to do was buy credit. The Orange SIM comes with about 250 MB of data. At the Praça Che Guevara, there was a shop with cold drinks and a playful kitten. That’s where Jonas got us 8 GB for each SIM card at 5000 XOF (€7.62 or US$8.23) each, valid for one month. A bit pricey, but since we were planning on going to the Bijagós Islands, we wanted to make sure we were independent. Jonas also tried signing up for Orange Money, but there was already an account in his phone number under the name Remondo. They sold us one recycled phone number…

Bissau-Guinean SIM Card Faq + Internet Freedom

Should I buy a Bissau-Guinean SIM card at the airport?

Osvaldo Vieira International Airport (OXB) does not list any airport amenities on its services page of a very retro-looking website. I don’t think there’s an Orange or MTN vendor at the airport. I also don’t think they’d overcharge you for a SIM card. Not that it matters; most flights to and from Bissau depart at such ungodly hours. So even if there was a shop with an authorized bureaucrat, the chances of catching them at work are basically zero.

Get your SIM card at the Orange Agency in Bissau city center. Or, someone will approach you outside the airport to sell you one registered in someone else’s name.

Where can I buy a SIM card in Guinea-Bissau?

At the official Orange Agência Principal in Bissau or any other authorized Orange vendor. You will have to ask specifically for cartão SIM Orange. If you’re not going to the Bijagós Archipelago or any other remote parts of , you might be fine with just an MTN SIM card. The MTN head office in Bissau is located at the Praça Che Guevara.

If that’s not nearby, Orange actually has a store finder with highly-optimistic opening times. It mentions one on Bubaque in the Bijagós Archipelago as well.

Since not every village deserves its own satellite office, there are also plenty of unofficial or unauthorized vendors. They might only carry MTN instead of Orange.

Should I download the app of my Bissau-Guinean provider?

No, it was not necessary to download the Orange Max It app. You could do anything you needed with the USSD codes mentioned on the SIM card frame. However, if you want to get Orange Money as well, you’ll need this app. More about that below.

How can I top-up my SIM card in Guinea-Bissau?

Your nearest convenience store owner will also dabble in topping-up data or calling credit on phones. The two times we did this, it was always a success at the very first store in Bissau. Just tell them crédito Orange/MTN and they will grab a very old dumb phone to wire you the money. You can also buy scratch cards, but I haven’t seen them with my own eyes.

How can I check my balance and remaining data?

The menus for both Orange and MTN are in Portuguese, but it’s quite easy to understand.

Orange: dial #123# to both see your remaining calling balance and mobile data.
The SIM card frame produced in Senegal says to dial #1234# to book an internet package, but then it tells you that’s wrong and you should actually dial #5234#. To immediately book an internet package for 7 or 30 days, dial #5234#1#

MTN: dial *134# to check your remaining data and *138# to book an internet package

Should I sign up for Orange Money?

We haven’t used Orange Money during our 12-day stay in Guinea-Bissau, unlike in Madagascar. So this is only theory. There are two good reasons to sign up for Orange Money:

1. You’re tired of breaking bills all the time to get small cash
2. You’re traveling so remotely in Guinea-Bissau you won’t be able to find an ATM and will still need to pay people

If that sounds good, download the Orange Bissau Max It app (Android + iPhone). You can put money on your Orange Money account by going to a nice convenience store, asking them to put e.g. 10000 XOF on it, and then paying them in cash. Now you can use Orange Money to make small purchases. I don’t know if you need to be authorized by an Orange Money Agent, or what that authorization looks like, unlike with Wave Agents in Senegal.

Now if you want to avoid using an ATM in Guinea-Bissau completely and you have a phone number from the following European countries: Belgium, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, you can do a cool thing. Sign up for Orange Money Europe (Android + iPhone), complete the registration with your European phone number (maybe turn on a VPN to make it look like you’re there) and then wire your Bissau-Guinean Orange Money account money with a European credit card. Though they do charge a small fee for the exchange rate, it can be cheaper than getting charged an ATM fee when withdrawing cash.

Once again, in the end we didn’t need to sign up for Orange Money, but I’m sure we (actually Jonas) could’ve made it work. It didn’t work with Jonas’ recycled phone number, but we could have swapped SIM cards and set it up with mine.

Does tethering work with an MTN/Orange SIM card?

From Android, sharing the internet from my phone to my laptop worked with both MTN and Orange. For iPhones, tethering worked with Orange as well. We didn’t test this with MTN. Since most hotels don’t have proper WiFi, tethering was vital during our stay in Guinea-Bissau.

How can I keep my Bissau-Guinean SIM card between visits?

The visa for Guinea-Bissau in Ziguinchor, Senegal is valid for 30, 60, or 90 days and is by default a double-entry visa. So if you use the border twice, you might want to hold on to your Bissau-Guinean SIM card.

On MTN, the credit is valid for 90 days after the last top-up. I assume your phone number won’t be recycled until at least 30–90 days after that. It’s the same for Orange, although their SIM card might last longer because for many people it’s also their bank account through Orange Money.

Is the internet blocked or monitored in Guinea-Bissau?

The government in Bissau doesn’t surveil or block internet traffic to websites. Internet usage is spreading rapidly in the country, but there are many Bissau-Guineans outside the cities and major towns that aren’t connected. The old numbers on Wikipedia about internet diffusion in Guinea-Bissau dates back from 2012, so it’s definitely over 2.9% that’s wasting time online like you and me.

Keep in mind that there’s no grid-provided electricity in most of the country, only some from the Turkish-supplied Metin Bey powership in Bissau. So even if individuals in villages have enough money for a phone, they might only rely on one small solar panel to charge a beast of a smartphone.

Guinea-Bissau’s government doesn’t have a great track record of being stable. So as the November 2025 presidential election approaches, I’m not holding my breath if any players will use their power to curb open discussion on the internet by simply unplugging the whole thing. Or simply letting people’s smartphones run empty by not paying their electricity bill to Turkey, who shuts off the electricity (and water) on the regular.

Should I download a VPN before traveling to Guinea-Bissau?

Yes. Ever since entering ‘difficult Africa’ in Mauritania, I’ve had my VPN on with very few exceptions. The experience has been flawless whenever there is a telecom tower. On the rare occasion I’d turn it off, some websites would block traffic from my IP. Guinea-Bissau is no exception

I have used different VPNs over my 10+ years of traveling that are very similar. However, NordVPN is much more affordable than the other providers—especially if you get the yearly or two-year plan. I have the Basic two-year plan which comes down to €3,80/month. If you want to try NordVPN, you can sign up via this link. It’s a referral link, so if you sign up I might, might, receive a commission from NordVPN for pointing you in their direction. There is no need to get any of their fancy plans, the Basic plan is just fine.

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