A mobile operator’s ambitions tend to arrive in small print. Look through Unitel T+’s offers in Cape Verde and the phone bill starts collecting companions: television channels, office internet, a fixed line, a vehicle tracker. Then comes an eSIM for the visitor who would prefer to spend a holiday doing almost anything other than buying a SIM card. The company that entered the market selling mobile service now wants a place in several parts of daily life.
That expansion makes Unitel T+ an interesting regional business. Its pitch is practical: put related communications services within reach of the same customer. A household can buy connectivity and entertainment together. An employer can put colleagues into a calling group. Someone abroad can arrange a recharge. Each offer addresses a different inconvenience, while giving the operator another reason to keep the customer’s business.
The bill before the phone bills
The origin predates the Unitel name. IFC identifies Cape Verdean investor Marco Bento as T Plus’s original founder. Teylium Telecom acquired a controlling stake in 2006, and commercial service began on December 21, 2007. The company’s legal registration dates to 2005, a useful distinction from the anniversary it celebrates.
IFC’s early disclosure sets out a $15 million project budget for 2007-2008, including $12.3 million in capital expenditure. Its board-approved loan figure is $5.77 million, marked indicative. These were financing and construction figures, rather than evidence of the final bill. Still, they put some weight behind the phrase “new operator.” Before collecting small payments from subscribers, somebody had to finance a network.
The commercial details mattered too. Unitel T+’s own history highlights affordable SIM cards and the introduction of per-second mobile billing in 2009. Those are unusually legible forms of competition. A customer does not need to understand radio engineering to appreciate a lower entry price or a charging unit closer to the length of a call.
A network budget before a recurring revenue stream. IFC’s 2007-2008 project estimate, not a final audited cost.
More things to sell over the connection
The company records the Unitel acquisition in 2012, followed by a steady widening of the catalogue. Dedicated internet and data offers appeared in 2015, My Unitel in 2017, and fixed internet packages in 2018. In 2019 came 4G and Casa+, bringing home internet, fixed voice and mobile service together. Television followed in 2021.
Read that sequence as a commercial strategy: once a connection exists, find other useful things the customer can buy through the same relationship. It also changes the work. Selling a mobile package involves allowances and coverage. Selling television adds content and devices. Selling to an office adds shared numbers, internal networks and the awkward question of who answers when something stops working.
The company describes its purpose in terms of connecting people, businesses and communities and contributing to Cape Verde’s development. The product sequence gives that broad mission a more concrete form. “Convergent” telecommunications, a favourite industry term, means fewer separate purchases for someone whose home or business already needs several services.
The living room was a deliberate bet
Casa+ TV arrived on August 17, 2021. A month later, SPI International announced a distribution agreement bringing channels including FilmBox Arthouse, Gametoon and FightBox to Unitel T+ subscribers. Cinema, gaming and combat sports made an eclectic addition to a business built on calls and data. The operator could expand its entertainment offering by working with a content supplier.
Ércia Paim, identified as marketing director in that announcement, emphasised the service’s features and multiscreen viewing. The proposition was bigger than attaching a channel list to an internet subscription: television could travel between screens. The company subsequently reported an AICEP innovation award for Casa+ TV in 2022, alongside recognition for its launch campaign.
Today, one advertised Casa+ configuration combines speeds of up to 100/50 Mbps, 80 channels, fixed voice and a mobile offer at 6,499 Cape Verdean escudos. Another groups 40 Mbps internet, 28 channels and a mobile number at 4,999 escudos. The TV offer supports three simultaneous devices. These are advertised packages checked in September 2026; address coverage and contract conditions determine what a household can actually order.
For a buyer, the useful comparison is the complete household bill. A generous channel count is worth little to someone who watches only a few programmes. A mobile allowance earns its place when somebody uses it. Bundling makes buying simpler, but the customer still has to decide which ingredients belong in the basket.
An office has a different shopping list
Office+ brings the same idea to small businesses. Its advertised 5,499-escudo offer includes 40 Mbps fixed internet, fixed-network calling within Unitel T+ and one mobile number with a package. That number includes general data, a separate allowance for selected apps, and specified national and international minutes. The appeal is administrative as much as technical: several everyday communications needs sit inside one offer.
Plano Corporate tackles a narrower problem. Available for groups starting at two employees, it charges per member and allows businesses to manage numbers and allowances through a customer portal. For colleagues who need to stay in touch across locations, the group is the product. An employer can add or remove members as staffing changes.
Further into the business catalogue are dedicated internet, leased circuits, private connectivity, virtual PBX, contact-centre services, vehicle tracking and security. These are offers for organisations whose problem extends beyond getting a phone online. A company with several branches needs connections between places; a fleet operator needs to know where vehicles are; a service desk needs to organise incoming calls.
This is where Unitel T+’s expertise becomes more specific than “innovation.” It combines network access with communications systems that an organisation can use in daily operations. The recurring subscription model is familiar, but the relationship can become more involved as customers add services. The practical test is whether the resulting setup is easier to manage and dependable enough for the work.
A holiday without the SIM-card errand
The tourist offer starts at the other end of the complexity scale. Unitel T+’s Morabeza eSIM storefront lets a visitor buy a plan and receive a QR code digitally. It offers capped and unlimited-data options, supports hotspot use and permits activation within 45 days of purchase. Someone buying before departure can activate on the local network upon arrival.
There are consequential conditions behind the convenience. The device must be compatible and unlocked. A QR code permits one installation; the operator says deleting the eSIM does not allow reinstallation. Speeds depend on coverage and local traffic. Those details make the difference between a useful pre-travel purchase and an avoidable airport puzzle.
Residents abroad have their own route into the business. Saldo Sodade supports recharges from overseas. My Unitel Web also offers bill payment and CV Home, a service presented as keeping a Unitel T+ number active abroad. The customer relationship can therefore continue after someone leaves the islands, serving the less glamorous but persistent need to keep a number and stay reachable.
The competition happens below the surface
A colourful tariff cannot resolve every competitive obstacle. In 2017, then director-general Paula Carioca publicly argued that infrastructure arrangements constrained Unitel T+’s ability to expand. That was the challenger’s account of the market, but the access question later produced a concrete regulatory dispute.
In September 2019, Unitel T+ sought access to the Palmarejo submarine-cable station in Praia for international capacity on WACS and colocation space. ARME ruled in May 2020 on its dispute with CVTelecom. The disagreement concerned access to infrastructure controlled by a competitor, a reminder that retail choice can depend on arrangements customers never see.
Infrastructure remains relevant. A December 2025 regulatory analysis identified the imbalance in radio sites between the operators as a reason to encourage sharing. In May 2026, the official gazette published national fixed-wireless frequency rights for Unitel T+: 100 MHz in the 2300-2400 MHz band. That authorization creates an opportunity; it is not itself a report of completed coverage or faster household speeds.
Active SIMs, not unique people. ARME’s first-quarter figures.
The current scoreboard puts the ambition in perspective. ARME’s first-quarter 2026 figures give Unitel T+ 32% of active mobile SIMs against CVTelecom’s 68%. In internet subscriptions, its share was 27.3%, alongside CVTelecom at 72% and Starlink at 0.64%. Different services have different competitive sets; none of these measures should be mistaken for a count of individual customers.
The people inside the package
Odete Vieira offers a human measure of the company’s changing work. In an employer-published account, she describes joining the call centre in October 2008, moving through back-office and supervisory responsibilities, and eventually working in operational business control. Her career spans the shift from the early mobile business into a broader operator.
“Mais do que os cargos, destaco as amizades, o espírito de equipa e as experiências partilhadas.”
Odete Vieira, in Unitel T+’s employee stories
Vieira singles out friendships, teamwork and shared experiences above job titles. It is a company-selected testimonial, best read as one person’s account. It nevertheless adds something useful to the product lists: services depend on people learning new responsibilities as the business changes.
The transferable lesson is to look closely at what an existing customer needs next. Unitel T+ has repeatedly added adjacent purchases, from home entertainment to office communications. That approach needs useful services, workable economics and access to the underlying network. Without those conditions, a larger catalogue just gives the customer more things to chase. For this challenger, the next sale and the next infrastructure decision remain closely connected.