Travel eSIM, Unitel T+ or Alou: how to get mobile data in Cape Verde without paying roaming

Part of our Cape Verde eSIM guide: all articles and key facts →

Choosing between an eSIM for Cape Verde and a local SIM card is less clear-cut than in most countries, because the local operators themselves now sell eSIMs to visitors. This guide compares a travel eSIM, the eSIMs of Unitel T+ and Alou, a plastic prepaid SIM and roaming from home, with prices and rules read on the operators' own pages on 16 October 2026.

Should you buy a travel eSIM or a local SIM in Cape Verde?

For most visitors with an eSIM phone, the best value is now a local eSIM bought online before the flight, not a plastic SIM bought on arrival: Unitel T+ sells 10 GB for 10 days at €10 with no documents. A global travel eSIM costs more per gigabyte but suits a stay longer than 15 days, a phone you share between countries, or a traveller who wants one app for every trip.

A plastic SIM still makes sense if your phone has no eSIM, if you stay for months, or if you want to top up in cash at a shop. Roaming on your home plan is the most expensive option for data unless your operator includes Cape Verde in a pass.

The two operators: Unitel T+ and Alou

Cape Verde has two mobile operators, Unitel T+ and CV Telecom, which sells under the Alou brand. The regulator ARME names exactly these two in its 2025 mobile quality study.

Unitel T+ is the network that Airalo and Nomad name for their Cape Verde eSIMs. Alou is the newer name of the historic operator: its mobile company, CV Móvel, was merged into CV Telecom (a merger announced on 3 November 2022) and the Alou brand was officially launched in July 2023, as Expresso das Ilhas reported on 15 July 2023. Guides that tell you to look for a "CV Móvel" shop mean Alou today.

In the regulator's 2025 drive tests, Alou had the higher average download speed on all nine inhabited islands, and Unitel T+ reached the data service more often on Sal and Boa Vista. Our island-by-island coverage guide gives every figure.

Can a tourist buy a Unitel T+ eSIM?

Yes: Unitel T+ sells "Morabeza" eSIMs to visitors on its own shop, with prices in euros or escudos and no documents to show, only an account to create. The Unitel T+ eSIM shop listed these packs on 16 October 2026, each with 30 national minutes:

The rules are written in the shop's FAQ. You have 45 days from purchase to activate the eSIM; bought abroad, it activates on arrival, and if not, Unitel T+ suggests turning on mobile data, placing a call or dialling #500#. Each QR code installs once: delete the eSIM or change phones and you must buy a new one. Hotspot is listed as supported.

The eSIM comes with a Cape Verdean number. When a pack ends, you can renew it on the portal, or in Unitel T+ shops, at ATMs or with authorised agents using that number. Unlimited packs can be renewed only twice. The 30 minutes are for national calls; international calls are charged at standard rates.

Can a tourist buy an Alou eSIM?

Alou sells eSIM packs on its website, and its purchase form lists a passport among the identity documents, but the page is in Portuguese and built for residents. The Alou eSIM page listed six packs, priced in escudos, on 16 October 2026:

• 2,000 MB for 7 days: 300 CVE, with unlimited calls and texts inside the Alou mobile network (Powa Swag lines excepted).
• 5,000 MB for 30 days: 700 CVE.
• 7,000 MB for 30 days: 1,000 CVE, plus 15 minutes to other networks.
• 9,000 MB for 30 days: 1,500 CVE, plus 30 minutes to other networks.
• 12,000 MB for 30 days: 3,000 CVE, plus 65 minutes to other networks.
• 15,000 MB for 30 days: 5,000 CVE, with unlimited national calls and 20 international minutes.

The purchase form offers three ID types: the Cape Verdean BI and CNI cards, and "Passaporte". Only the name and e-mail fields are marked as required, and the country-of-residence list includes foreign countries such as France, Portugal, the United Kingdom and the United States. We did not go through a payment, so we cannot confirm that a foreign bank card is accepted. Alou also offers to convert an existing Alou SIM into an eSIM.

For scale, the cheapest Unitel T+ tourist pack costs 1,100 escudos on Unitel's own shop, and Alou's weekly 2,000 MB pack costs 300 escudos. For a stay of a week with moderate use, Alou is the cheaper local eSIM if your purchase goes through.

What does a prepaid SIM card cost?

Unitel T+ publishes its prepaid data packs, from 70 escudos a day to 4,299 escudos for 50,000 MB over 30 days, but neither operator publishes the price of the SIM card itself on the pages we read. These are the Unitel T+ mobile internet packs for phones:

• Daily: 70 CVE for 30 MB on first activation (50 MB on the second, 70 MB on the third).
• Weekly: 250 CVE for 250 MB, rising to 500 MB and 750 MB on renewals.
• Monthly: 500 CVE for 1,000 MB, 800 CVE for 2,000 MB, or 1,250 CVE for 5,000 MB.
• 4G packs, 30 days: 10,000 MB for 2,500 CVE, 20,000 MB for 3,500 CVE, 50,000 MB for 4,299 CVE.

Outside a pack, the same page quotes "Net avulso" at 10 escudos per MB, in the block for its Net Viva+ dongle and PC packs; the phone block gives no per-MB rate, so ask in the shop. That is the trap with a plastic SIM: if the pack runs out, the phone may keep downloading at a per-MB price. Compare the 4G packs with the tourist eSIM: 10,000 MB for 30 days at 2,500 escudos on a SIM, against 10 GB for 10 days at 1,100 escudos on the Morabeza eSIM.

If you set up a Unitel T+ SIM yourself, the operator's help page gives the access point name "tmais" for iPhone. Phones bought in Unitel shops come pre-configured.

Do you need a passport for a SIM card in Cape Verde?

Not for the Unitel T+ tourist eSIM, which only needs an account; Alou's eSIM form has an identity-document field that offers a passport, though it marks only the name and e-mail as required. For a plastic SIM, Unitel T+ does not spell out the rule on its public pages; the only ID requirement we found there is for moving an existing number to Unitel T+, where it asks for "um documento de identificação". Take your passport to the shop.

A travel eSIM from a global brand needs no identity check at all, as our comparison of the best Cape Verde eSIMs shows plan by plan.

Where can you buy a SIM in Cape Verde?

Unitel T+ lists one shop inside an airport, at Amílcar Cabral International Airport on Sal, and shops in the main towns of eight islands. Its store list, read on its help page, includes:

• Sal: Amílcar Cabral International Airport, Espargos and Santa Maria.
• Boa Vista: Sal Rei only; no airport shop is listed.
• Santiago: eleven points of sale, including Plateau, Palmarejo and the Praia Shopping centre in Praia, plus Assomada and Tarrafal.
• São Vicente: Monte Sossego and Pont D'Água, in Mindelo.
• Santo Antão: Ribeira Grande and Porto Novo.
• Fogo, Maio and São Nicolau: São Filipe; a kiosk in Porto Inglês; Ribeira Brava and a kiosk in Tarrafal.

No Unitel T+ shop is listed on Brava. We could not read Alou's store locator, which is drawn by a script; check it on alou.cv before you rely on a specific shop. If you land on Boa Vista, the only Unitel T+ shop on the list is in Sal Rei so an eSIM installed before the flight is simpler.

Travel eSIM, local eSIM or SIM card: side by side

For about 10 GB, the local eSIMs cost the least, the plastic SIM is cheap but slower to set up, and global travel eSIMs cost several times more. Prices checked on 16 October 2026:

Nomad's price comes from its Cape Verde page and Airalo's from its Cape Verde page. The global eSIMs have their own advantages: support in English, a single app for several countries, and, with Nomad, a 30-day validity that the Unitel T+ tourist shop does not offer.

Can you keep your home number with a local eSIM?

Yes, if your phone supports dual SIM: Unitel T+ confirms that its eSIM and a physical SIM can be used at the same time on such a device. In practice, you keep your home SIM for calls and texts such as bank codes, and set the Cape Verde eSIM as the line for mobile data.

Two settings matter. First, choose the Cape Verde line for mobile data, so the phone does not download over your home plan. Second, switch off data roaming on the home line: the line stays reachable while data stays off. Our guide to running two eSIMs at the same time covers these settings, and the Android activation guide covers the first install.

Calls to your Cape Verdean number are another matter. With the Unitel T+ eSIM you receive a local number and 30 national minutes, which helps for calling a taxi, a guesthouse or a tour guide on the islands. A global travel eSIM is data-only, so local calls go through messaging apps or your roaming home line.

What happens to a local eSIM when you leave?

The Unitel T+ tourist packs work only in Cape Verde: the shop says the eSIM still works abroad, but at roaming rates, and the packages bought on the portal are "valid only within Cabo Verde". Do not leave the line set for data when you fly home or on to another country.

The eSIM itself cannot follow you to a new phone. Unitel T+ says each eSIM is valid for a single installation, cannot be transferred, and cannot be reinstalled once deleted. If you come back to Cape Verde with the same phone and have not deleted the eSIM, you can buy a new pack for the same number on the portal or in a shop. A global travel eSIM, by contrast, can usually stay on the phone for the next trip; check the provider's rules before you delete anything.

How much does roaming from home cost in Cape Verde?

Cape Verde is outside the European Union, so the EU rule that lets you use your home allowance abroad does not apply there. The EU's Your Europe page on roaming limits roam-like-at-home to the EU, Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway, with Moldova and Ukraine, and warns that roaming outside the EU and EEA "can be expensive".

• Vodafone UK (pay as you go): its rest-of-world page charges £0.12, £0.60, £1.80 or £7.20 per MB of data depending on the zone, but did not say which zone Cape Verde is in when we read it.
• Orange France: its Pass Voyage 5 covers 27 destinations including Cape Verde, in 1 GB, 3 GB or 5 GB versions, each with 20 minutes and 50 texts for 31 days; the price is shown by a script our reader could not see.
• EE, O2 and Three: we found no readable Cape Verde data price on their sites on 16 October 2026. Check your account before you fly.

Whatever your operator, leave data roaming off on your home line once a Cape Verde eSIM is installed. Our guide to roaming charges to check before travelling lists the settings.

Will your phone take a Cape Verde eSIM?

It must support eSIM and be unlocked: Unitel T+ states that its eSIM does not work on locked devices. The operator names the iPhone 11 or newer, the Samsung Galaxy S20 or newer and the Google Pixel 4 or newer as generally compatible, and all three ranges are on our list of eSIM-compatible phones. See also our pages for the iPhone 11 series, the Galaxy S20 series and the Pixel 4 series.

• Unitel T+ suggests dialling *#06#: if an EID appears, the phone has eSIM hardware. Our guide shows where to find the EID on Android, Samsung and iPhone.
• Not sure the phone is unlocked? Read whether you need an unlocked phone for a travel eSIM.
• If the eSIM hangs on landing, follow our fixes for an eSIM stuck on activating.

Which option fits your trip?

• One or two weeks on Sal or Boa Vista, eSIM phone: the Unitel T+ tourist eSIM, installed before the flight.
• Hiking on Santo Antão or staying on Maio or Brava: an Alou eSIM, if the purchase goes through; Alou held a signal more often there in the 2025 tests.
• A month or more, or several countries: a global travel eSIM such as Nomad or Yesim, or a Unitel T+ SIM with a 30-day 4G pack.
• Phone without eSIM: a plastic SIM from a Unitel T+ shop, such as the one at Sal airport.