Tourist SIM in the Seychelles: what Airtel and Cable & Wireless sell, where, and what works on Praslin and La Digue

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

A Seychelles local SIM can give you more data for less money than a travel eSIM, but it comes with paperwork. The Seychelles has two mobile operators, Airtel and Cable & Wireless, and only one of them published a readable visitor offer when we checked on 20 October 2026. This guide covers the tourist plans, the airport booths, the passport rules and what is known about coverage on Praslin and La Digue.

Which local SIM should a visitor buy in the Seychelles?

Cable & Wireless is the operator whose visitor prices you can check before you fly; Airtel is the network most travel eSIMs use and the faster one in the regulator's 2024 tests. Cable & Wireless Seychelles publishes four Traveller Plans in euros, from €19.99 for 10 GB over 7 days, with unlimited local calls and SMS. Airtel Seychelles announced a trial of SIM sales to visitors through the government's border website in 2022, but its own website showed no tourist prices we could read.

The choice therefore comes down to this. If you want the cheapest data and do not mind registering a line in person, the Cable & Wireless Traveller Plan is the clear offer on paper. If you want the Airtel network, either ask Airtel on arrival (its 2022 trial named an airport kiosk, which we could not confirm still operates) or install a travel eSIM before you leave: our comparison of the best eSIMs for the Seychelles lists the Airtel-based plans and their prices.

The Cable & Wireless Traveller Plans

The prices below come from the Traveller Plan terms and conditions published by Cable & Wireless (Seychelles) Ltd, a document dated March 2024 that was still online on 20 October 2026. The terms say the operator may change the rates "at any time", so confirm the price when you order.

Every plan includes unlimited local calls and unlimited local SMS. The allowance lasts for the validity period "or until they are exhausted", and any extra credit or booster bought during that period is lost if you do not use it in time. Beyond the allowance, usage is charged at the operator's standard rates.

Who can buy it and how

• Visitors only: the plan is "available to NON SEYCHELLOIS and NON RESIDENTS ONLY".
• Ordered online: you apply and pay on the Seychelles Electronic Border System, the government site where visitors also apply for their travel authorisation.
• Passport only: "Your passport shall be the only acceptable official identification document for application, registration, and verification."
• Registration in person: you present the QR code issued with your purchase, on your phone or on paper, and receive a starter pack with your number.
• Limit: at most five SIMs per visitor.

The line becomes active on your first call, SMS or data session. The terms add that "the Traveller Plan service cannot be used outside of the Seychelles", and refunds are limited to a payment error, a change in border rules, a cancelled flight or a delay by the border system.

Cable & Wireless prepaid SIM and data top-ups

If you would rather pay as you go, a Cable & Wireless starter pack costs SCR 100 and includes SCR 25 of airtime. The operator's prepaid page lists data top-ups in Seychelles rupees, VAT included. We quote them in rupees and do not convert them, because we found no official exchange rate we could read.

Without a top-up, data costs SCR 0.40 per MB and a local SMS SCR 0.42. Top-ups are sold on the operator's eShop, at its kiosks and through what it calls "300 eTopUp agents", and each one is valid from the date of purchase. A prepaid line stays active as long as you make "one chargeable transaction every 60 days".

The 65 GB top-up is the largest prepaid data top-up Cable & Wireless lists, but it needs a Cable & Wireless line first, and for a stay of three weeks or less the Traveller Plan is the simpler package.

Where can you buy a SIM card in the Seychelles?

At Cable & Wireless, only at its own customer service centres, which include a booth at the airport and offices on Praslin and La Digue. Cable & Wireless says its starter packs "are available for purchase at our Customer Service Centres. This is in line with the new Government regulations that apply to all Telecommunications Operators in Seychelles." It lists 11 places where its SIM cards can be bought:

• Mahé: the Airport Booth, Providence, Anse Royale, Beau Vallon, Perseverance, Hyper Market, Bois de Rose, Anse Etoile and Grande Anse Mahé.
• Praslin: Grand Anse Praslin.
• La Digue: the La Digue customer service centre.

Top-ups are not affected by that rule, so once you have a line you can recharge it at any agent. Airtel's 2022 announcement of a trial said visitors who bought its SIM online would collect it "at the Airtel kiosk at the airport". Airtel's website menu has a store finder ("Store Finder", "Shops"), but the page displayed no list we could read on 20 October 2026.

Can you get a local eSIM in the Seychelles?

Yes, from Cable & Wireless, at one of its customer service desks or booked online through the Seychelles Electronic Border System. Its eSIM FAQ answers a traveller's question directly: "you can register for a prepaid eSIM from any one of our Cable and Wireless Customer Service desks. You can also book one online via the Seychelles Electronic Border System before you depart for Seychelles."

The operator says "an eSIM is the same price as a normal SIM card". At the desk, staff give you a QR code instead of a physical card, and you scan it with your phone. You need Wi-Fi or "at least 10MB of data" to download the profile, so do it on the airport or hotel Wi-Fi if your home line has no roaming.

Airtel's website menu has an "eSim Online Booking" entry, but the page displayed nothing we could read on 20 October 2026, so we could not confirm what eSIM Airtel offers visitors or at what price. The Airtel network is easy to reach with a travel eSIM, though: Holafly, Nomad and Airalo all name Airtel for their Seychelles plans.

What does Airtel offer visitors?

Airtel announced in 2022 a trial in which visitors could buy its SIM with their travel authorisation and collect it at its airport kiosk, but it published no tourist prices we could read on 20 October 2026. Airtel Seychelles belongs to the Bharti Airtel group and has operated in the Seychelles since 1998, according to its managing director.

In October 2022, Seychelles Nation reported that Airtel and Travizory, the company behind the border system, would offer Airtel SIM cards to visitors when they apply for their travel authorisation. The service started as a trial for passengers of flight EK707 and was due to be "gradually extended to all visitors". By scanning the QR code of the travel authorisation, Airtel was to collect "the required information from the traveller, such as name and passport number".

The Airtel Seychelles website is an application that loads its offers from internal services, and it showed no tourist plan or price we could read. Some travel blogs quote Airtel bundle prices, but we could not confirm any of them on an Airtel page, so we do not repeat them. Check the offer in the border system when you apply, or ask Airtel on arrival.

What documents do you need for a Seychelles SIM?

Your passport. The Cable & Wireless Traveller Plan accepts no other document, and you must show the QR code from your order when you register. In the 2022 trial, Airtel's system read the name and passport number from the travel authorisation QR code, and the report said the information was shared because it "must be collected for each SIM card holder – whether resident or visitor".

A travel eSIM avoids this step: you buy it online and install it at home, and sellers such as aloSIM state that no ID is required. The trade-off is price, as the comparison below shows.

Which network works better on Praslin and La Digue?

The independent evidence favours Airtel: it was faster in the regulator's 2024 tests, and nPerf users have run many more tests on its network on Praslin and La Digue. The Seychelles Communications Regulatory Authority, created by a law the National Assembly approved in 2023, commissioned the South African firm Metro Global Telecom Services to test both networks on Mahé, Praslin and La Digue from 25 September to 31 October 2024.

In the published summary (an archived copy, as the file is no longer online at the regulator's address), with 4G preferred and the phone on the move, Airtel averaged 16.8 Mbps download against 7.3 Mbps for Cable & Wireless. Cable & Wireless had the lower average latency, 242 ms against 274 ms. The summary prints a separate table for Praslin and La Digue, but it contains exactly the same figures as the Mahé table, so we only rely on the combined results.

On nPerf's crowdsourced maps, which show where users ran tests rather than guaranteed coverage, Airtel had tests along much of Praslin's coastal roads and along the west coast of La Digue, where its main village, La Passe, lies, on 20 October 2026. Cable & Wireless had only a handful of test points on the two islands, all grey, the colour of the no-signal icon in nPerf's legend, and none shown as 3G, 4G or 5G. That says little either way about its real coverage there.

The operators' own claims are cautious. Cable & Wireless invites customers to check its 5G map "to see which areas on Mahe, Praslin, and La Digue currently have 5G coverage", but its Traveller Plan terms also say it "cannot, however, guarantee Mobile Network coverage on ALL islands". Holafly, which runs on Airtel, warns that coverage may be weaker on "the inland routes of Praslin and La Digue" and "during boat journeys".

Will your phone get 5G on Cable & Wireless?

Only if it is a 5G phone from a brand the operator supports, and not if it is a Samsung. Cable & Wireless says that "Samsung 5G enabled devices are unable to access the CWS 5G network. Samsung is working with CWS to resolve this." It names selected models from Apple, Xiaomi, Huawei and Oppo as able to use its 5G network.

The Traveller Plan terms also call 5G "a best effort service": where 5G is missing or slows down, the phone falls back to LTE "or even 3G in some instances". The plan names all start with "5G", but that is not a promise of 5G everywhere.

Local SIM or travel eSIM?

On price per gigabyte, the Cable & Wireless Traveller Plan wins; on convenience and on the network the regulator found faster, a travel eSIM wins. Here are like-for-like comparisons, with travel eSIM prices read on the providers' pages on 20 October 2026:

The local plan also gives you a Seychelles number with unlimited local calls, useful for calling a guesthouse, a taxi or a boat operator. None of the travel eSIMs we compared includes a Seychelles number.

Against that, the travel eSIM is installed before you fly and works when the plane lands, with no form, no QR code to present and no queue at a booth. Most run on Airtel, the network that was faster in the 2024 tests and that nPerf users have tested far more on Praslin and La Digue. You can also combine the two: a small eSIM plan, such as Nomad's 1 GB for 7 days at €7.12, for the first hours, then a local line once you are settled.

Continuing to Mauritius?

You will need a second plan, because the Cable & Wireless Traveller Plan only works in the Seychelles. Mauritius has its own operators and tourist packs, compared in our Mauritius local SIM guide. A regional eSIM is the other route: Airalo's Hello Africa plan covers both countries, from €10.50 for 1 GB over 3 days, or €23.50 for 3 GB over 7 days. Our Mauritius eSIM guide gathers everything for the second leg.

Check your phone before you go

Whichever route you choose, three checks save trouble on arrival:

• eSIM support: find your model on our list of eSIM-compatible phones, for example the iPhone 17 range.
• Unlocked: a phone locked to your home operator will refuse a Seychelles SIM or eSIM. Read do you need an unlocked phone for a travel eSIM.
• Installation: follow our step-by-step eSIM activation guide; if the line stays on "Activating", see our fixes for an eSIM stuck on activating. If an operator asks for your EID, here is where to find the EID number.

To keep your home number for bank codes while using a Seychelles line for data, see our guide to running two eSIMs at the same time.

How we checked

We read the Cable & Wireless Traveller Plan terms, prepaid page, eSIM FAQ and 5G page on 20 October 2026, and tried to read Airtel Seychelles' website the same day. Airtel's history with the border system comes from Seychelles Nation's report of 6 October 2022. Network results come from the SCRA's quality of service summary for September and October 2024 and from nPerf's maps.

We did not buy a SIM or measure speeds in the Seychelles. Operators change prices without notice, so check the plan in the border system or at the counter before you pay.