Before you start

Your passport — the identification a foreigner registers a SIM against
An unlocked handset; check eSIM support with *#06#
An address for the registration form
Kwanzas in cash

Step-by-step

1
Buy at an operator shop, not on the street
INACOM prohibited SIM sales through street vendors and informal channels, and registration has been mandatory since 2014, with unregistered cards suspended. A SIM that already works when handed to you is registered to somebody else — a problem you inherit rather than avoid.
In personWho: YouMinutesA few hundred to a couple of thousand kwanzas
2
Register in your own name
Bring the passport and have the agent complete registration on the spot. A line registered to a colleague or a fixer cannot be re-tariffed, ported or recovered by you — and your bank's one-time codes will be arriving on it.
In personWho: YouMinutesFree
3
Lock the network manually — the Cabinda step
In your phone's mobile-network settings, switch from automatic to manual selection and choose your Angolan operator. Near the northern and eastern borders — and sometimes well inside them — handsets latch onto Congolese networks and bill international roaming silently. Check the operator name in the status bar before any long call, and turn data roaming off entirely unless you need it.
Mobile appWho: YouTwo minutes, and worth more than any tariff comparisonFree — and it saves real money
4
Carry two networks
Coverage away from the city and the coast road is uneven, and this is a province where being unreachable on a road trip is a security issue rather than an inconvenience. A second SIM on a different operator is cheap insurance, and the regulator-mandated protected package at AOA 2,000 for 70 minutes, 50 SMS and 500 MB is a sensible thing to put on it.
In personWho: YouSame dayAOA 2,000/month for the protected package
5
Sort home internet as fixed-wireless, and check the address
Fixed-line broadband is thin across Angola and home internet in practice means fixed-wireless. Unitel's NetCasa runs roughly AOA 4,000 to AOA 125,000 a month across 10–200 Mb/s and Africell's Konekta 5G offers unlimited 30-day plans, but coverage outside the main cities is the constraint. Check the specific address before signing a lease if you work from home.
In personWho: YouDays including installationAOA 4,000–125,000/mo depending on speed and availability

Documents you’ll need

Passport
Residence document, if you have one
An address for the registration form
An unlocked handset

Things most newcomers don’t know

Automatic network selection is the most expensive default setting in Cabinda.

The province touches the Republic of the Congo and the DRC, and mobile signals ignore the border. Handsets left on automatic pick up a Congolese network and bill international roaming without a prompt — and the bill arrives a month later, itemised in a way that makes it hard to dispute. Lock the network on day one.

Source: Cabinda's border geography / standard GSM roaming behaviour

Africell's 2022 entry is why data prices are what they are.

Angola ran on two operators for years. Any tariff comparison written before 2022 describes a different market. If a guide names only Unitel and Movicel, discard its pricing.

Source: INACOM / Angolan mobile market post-2022

The regulator fixed a floor at the same time as it allowed a ceiling.

INACOM authorised increases of up to 25% while mandating a protected package at AOA 2,000 for 70 minutes, 50 SMS and 500 MB. Counter staff do not always lead with it; knowing it exists is what makes the conversation two-sided.

Source: INACOM price-adjustment authorisation

Coverage is a safety question here, not a convenience one.

On the roads north, being contactable matters. Two networks, a charged power bank and someone who knows your route is the standard local practice for any trip out of the city — and it exists because of the province's specific security picture, not out of general caution.

Source: UK FCDO — Angola regional risks