Mascom eSIM — coverage, plans & network

Mascom is Botswana's largest mobile operator. Founded in 1998 and majority-owned by South Africa's MTN Group, it was the first network in the country to launch 3G, piloted 4G/LTE early and switched on Botswana's first 5G sites in Gaborone in February 2022. Its coverage reaches over 95% of the population, which in a country the size of France with two million people means the towns, the main highways and the gateways to the Okavango and Chobe.

For safari travellers the practical questions are coverage in Maun and Kasane, data prices and paperwork: Botswana registers every SIM to a passport, and a prepaid line is bought and registered in an official shop.

AviaeSIM's prepaid travel eSIM for Botswana connects to the Mascom network and is delivered online, so you land in Gaborone or Maun with data already working and no shop, registration queue or pula top-up on the itinerary.

Mascom issues its eSIM in person: any customer with an eSIM-capable phone can get one for P10.00 at a Mascom Shop or a designated activation point, where the QR code is generated and scanned on the spot. Because Botswana ties every line to a registered identity, your KYC details must be up to date first — for a visitor that means passport registration in an official shop, which travel guides put at 5–15 minutes. Once the profile is installed, data is bought like any prepaid customer's: dial *123#, open My71Shop and choose a MyMix bundle, or use the Mascom app. Current 30-day MyMix prices run from P69 for 2 GB to P149 for 8.5 GB and P279 for 17 GB plus 17 GB, with short 1- and 7-day bundles from P2, and Mascom often adds promotional bonus data on top.

AviaeSIM's prepaid travel eSIM on the Mascom network removes the shop from the plan: you buy it online before the flight, receive the QR code by email in minutes, install it at home and connect when you land in Gaborone or Maun, with no registration and no pula to load.