eSIM and SIM cards in Madagascar

The tourist eSIM, priced by the operator

Yas Madagascar, the operator formerly trading as Telma, publishes a visitor bundle on its own site:

• 60,000 ariary, or 12 euros, for 30 days.
• 5 GB of data.
• One hour of national voice, five minutes of international voice, 50 SMS.
• The international minutes cover a published list of about 40 countries including the UK, France, the US, Canada, Australia, India and China.
• Yas notes the euro price varies with the exchange rate, which tells you which of the two figures is the real one.

How you actually get it, which is the part that catches people

• You buy a voucher in a Yas shop, scratch it and scan the QR code. There is no remote purchase. Turning up with an eSIM slot and a card is not enough on its own.
• Yas Store Aeroport Ivato is on the published list of stores that sell it, along with shops in Nosy Be, Diego, Tamatave, Tulear, Fort Dauphin, Morondava, Sainte Marie and Antananarivo.
• Check your handset is on the compatibility list before you count on this. Yas publishes one, and it is short: broadly iPhone XS and later, recent Pixel, Galaxy S20 and later, and a handful of Huawei, Oppo and Honor models.
• Orange Madagascar sells its eSIM online through Orange Shop with a So Smart plan and immediate activation, which is the alternative if the Yas voucher route does not suit.

The operators, and who to call

• ARTEC licenses four: Airtel, Blueline, Orange and Telma, now Yas.
• Customer service: Airtel 121, Orange 204, Telma 800.
• Telecoms complaints go to ARTEC on 600, but only after you have complained to the operator first. That is the regulator's own sequence.

At the airport

• Ivato lists SIM card purchase among its passenger services, alongside banks, ATMs and currency exchange.
• Airport wifi is free, connected by scanning the QR code on the posters in the departure area.
• The airport call centre is +261 34 00 123 45, 08:00 to 20:00, seven days a week.