Before you start

Your passport — the identification document a foreigner registers a SIM against
An unlocked handset; check eSIM support with *#06# before relying on it
An address you can name, since registration collects one
Kwanzas in cash — the shop will not want a foreign card

Step-by-step

1
Buy at an operator shop, never from a street vendor
INACOM prohibited SIM sales through street vendors and other informal channels, and registration has been compulsory since 2014, with unregistered cards suspended. A SIM that already works when handed to you is by construction registered to somebody else — which is a problem you inherit rather than avoid. Operator shops sit in every major shopping centre and at the airport.
In personWho: YouMinutesA few hundred to a couple of thousand kwanzas for the SIM
2
Register in your own name at the counter
Bring the passport and let the agent complete the registration there and then. Doing this properly on day one avoids the specific failure where a colleague or a fixer registers a line 'to help', and you then cannot change the tariff, port the number, or recover it when the relationship ends.
In personWho: YouMinutesFree
3
Pick the network for where you actually are
Unitel has the deepest national footprint and launched the country's first commercial 5G. Africell arrived in 2022 and competes hardest on data pricing, with 5G coverage in Luanda and the main cities. Movicel is the third. Carrying two SIMs is normal here rather than paranoid — coverage away from the coastal corridor is genuinely uneven and a second network is cheap insurance.
In personWho: YouSame dayNothing to compare
4
Sort home internet separately from mobile
Fixed-line broadband is thin, and the realistic home option is fixed-wireless: Unitel's NetCasa runs from about AOA 4,000 to AOA 125,000 a month across speeds from 10 to 200 Mb/s, and Africell's Konekta 5G offers unlimited 30-day plans at 25, 50 and 100 Mb/s. If you work from home, price this before you sign a lease — a flat in a building with no line of sight is a flat with no internet.
In personWho: YouDays, including installationAOA 4,000–125,000/mo depending on speed
5
Know the protected package exists
When INACOM authorised the operators to raise prices by up to 25%, it required them to keep a protected integrated package exempt from the increase: AOA 2,000 a month for 70 minutes, 50 SMS and 500 MB. It is not a professional's plan, but it is a useful floor to quote at a counter and a useful thing to put on a second SIM or a household member's phone.
In personWho: YouOngoingAOA 2,000/month

Documents you’ll need

Passport
Residence document, if you have one — helpful but the passport is the core requirement
An address for the registration form
An unlocked handset

Things most newcomers don’t know

Africell's 2022 entry is why your data is affordable.

Angola ran on two operators for years and prices reflected it. The third entrant changed the pricing conversation quickly, which is also why tariff comparisons written before 2022 are useless. If a guide names only Unitel and Movicel, it predates the market you are actually buying in.

Source: INACOM / Angolan mobile market, post-2022

The regulator let prices rise by up to 25% and fixed a floor at the same time.

INACOM authorised increases of up to 25% while mandating a protected AOA 2,000 package of 70 minutes, 50 SMS and 500 MB. Knowing both halves is what stops a counter conversation being one-sided: there is a legally protected entry-level product, and staff do not always lead with it.

Source: INACOM price-adjustment authorisation

Buy the SIM in your own name even when someone offers to sort it for you.

Registration has been mandatory since 2014 and unregistered SIMs get suspended. A line registered to a colleague, a driver or a fixer cannot be re-tariffed, ported or recovered by you — and in a country where your bank's one-time codes arrive on it, that is a real exposure rather than an inconvenience.

Source: INACOM SIM registration rules

Check line of sight before you sign a lease, not after.

With fixed-line broadband thin, home internet in Luanda is overwhelmingly fixed-wireless, which means the building and the floor decide your bandwidth. This is the one housing question remote workers reliably forget to ask, and it is not fixable after the deposit is paid.

Source: Unitel NetCasa / Africell Konekta service model

Common mistakes to avoid

Buying a pre-activated SIM from a street seller — prohibited, and registered to a stranger
Letting someone else register the line in their name
Assuming one network covers the whole country; two SIMs is the local norm for a reason
Signing a lease without checking fixed-wireless coverage at that address
Comparing tariffs from a guide written before Africell entered in 2022
Letting a line go dormant and then finding you cannot port the number

Some of this may be out of date. Spotted something inaccurate? Help us keep it right for the next newcomer.