# eSIM for Mayotte: Two Different Clocks, One Operator

Source: https://esimrules.com/destinations/mayotte/
Author: Nadezhda Semenova — Entrepreneur, co-founder of the travel service Trippy (https://esimrules.com/about/)
Updated: 2026-09-06

> Mayotte's Unlimited eSIM starts its clock at install; the limited-data set starts at first use. Same operator name, two clocks. Checked 10 August 2026.

## Which clock does your Mayotte package run on?

Airalo sells Mayotte under two Choungui listings on two clocks. The five Unlimited packages start counting the moment the profile is installed. The six limited-data packages start counting on first use. Install an Unlimited package a week before you fly and part of it is gone before you land (Airalo catalog data, checked 7 September 2026).

Both eSIM sets for Mayotte carry the same operator name, the same Orange 4G coverage and the same 365-day install window. Nothing on the page tells them apart. The difference sits in one catalog field: `activation_policy: first-usage` on the limited set, `activation_policy: installation` on the Unlimited set.

Three of Airalo’s 215 catalog countries run an installation clock: Bosnia and Herzegovina, Mayotte and Suriname. In the other two, both listings run it. Mayotte is the only country where the two disagree, and the only one in the catalog where any two operators disagree on activation policy at all (Airalo catalog data, checked 3 September 2026). [Egypt](/destinations/egypt/) has left this set. Its two records read installation on 12 August 2026 and first-usage on 3 September 2026. Choosing between two packages sold under one name decides which clock you are on.

Réunion, the other French department in this ocean, splits its catalog the same way and does not split its clock. Both Reunion Mobile listings run first-usage timing, limited set and Unlimited set alike. Réunion’s Unlimited ladder runs one tier further than Mayotte’s, adding a 30-day option at $73.49 (Airalo catalog data, checked 7 September 2026).

Airalo’s own France listing excludes Mayotte by name. The Élan eSIM’s catalog notes read: “Covers metropolitan (mainland) France and Corsica. Does not include overseas territories (Guadeloupe, Martinique, Reunion, French Polynesia, New Caledonia, French Guiana, Mayotte) or Monaco — choose a dedicated eSIM for those.” The Choungui listing is that dedicated product. A mainland-France eSIM will not connect in Mayotte.

## Does French telecom law apply to Mayotte?

Yes, in one sentence. Article L141 of the Code des postes et des communications électroniques states it directly: “Le présent code est applicable à Mayotte,” which translates plainly as this code applies to Mayotte.

The line was added by décret n°2005-1068 of 30 August 2005 (JORF 31 August 2005), and nothing narrows it since, across the code’s 736 articles.

A second article also names Mayotte, and it is easy to over-read. Article L97-4 extends two satellite-frequency articles, L97-2 and L97-3, to New Caledonia, French Polynesia, Wallis-and-Futuna and the French Southern and Antarctic Lands, opening with “sans préjudice de leur application de plein droit à Mayotte.” That clause notes in passing that those same two satellite articles already reached Mayotte under a separate instrument: point 8° of part I of article 3 of loi n°2001-616 of 11 July 2001 on Mayotte. That citation is real, and it is the one that first sent us to this article. But L97-4 itself governs satellite-frequency licensing, not SIM cards or personal data. It is not the article that puts the whole code, including the data rules below, in force on Mayotte. That is the plain one-line L141.

## What is “itinérance ultramarine,” and is this eSIM one?

It is a defined legal term, and it is narrower than a travel eSIM. Article L32, point 17° bis, in the version consolidated by loi n°2024-449 of 21 May 2024, defines it as a service one mobile operator supplies to another.

The first operates on the territory of metropolitan France, an overseas department, Mayotte, Saint-Barthélemy, Saint-Martin or Saint-Pierre-et-Miquelon. The second serves customers in another of those territories. Those customers then use the first network, which the code calls the visited network, to make or receive calls to one of those territories or to an EU member state.

That is a wholesale arrangement between two licensed operators, not a product sold to a traveller. Whether the Choungui profile sold here counts as itinérance ultramarine turns on where its home operator is licensed. Airalo’s catalog carries no field for that: only `is_roaming: true`, Orange 4G coverage and the two activation policies above. This page does not classify it either way. What holds regardless is L141 — the whole code is in force on Mayotte however any single service is labelled.

## Who must keep your data, and who must delete it?

The duty sits on the operator, not on you at checkout.

Article L34-1, as amended by loi n°2025-532 of 13 June 2025 (in force the next day) — the law “visant à sortir la France du piège du narcotrafic” — sets the default in part II. Operators erase or anonymize data relating to electronic communications, unless an exception in II bis through VI applies.

Part II bis carves out three retention duties. Civil-identity information is kept five years from the end of the contract, or of prepaid interpersonal-communications service (II bis, 1°). Other subscription and payment details are kept one year from the end of the contract or account closure (II bis, 2°). Technical connection data, enough to trace the source of a connection or the terminal used, is kept one year from the connection itself (II bis, 3°). Under II bis, 1°, a décret en Conseil d’État sets the conditions under which operators verify civil-identity data and names the State services not subject to that verification. The code does not name or date that decree, and this page does not guess at it. The exemption it points to is for certain State services, not for categories of subscriber information.

Article L39-3, amended by the same 2025 law, sets the penalty: one year’s imprisonment and a €75,000 fine for an electronic-communications operator or its agents who fail to erase or anonymize data when the law requires it, fail to retain technical data when the law requires it, or fail to verify and retain civil-identity data under II bis, 1°. All three grounds name the operator or its agents, never the subscriber. Across the code’s 736 articles, the phrase “justificatif d’identité” appears zero times, “pièce d’identité” appears zero times, and “avant la souscription” returns zero matches. There is no textual requirement to show an ID document before buying a line. There is only a duty on the operator to handle what it already holds.

## What do you actually get with this Mayotte eSIM?

Eleven packages, one network.

This eSIM for Mayotte comes as 11 Choungui packages, roaming on Orange’s 4G network, none carrying a phone number (Airalo catalog data, checked 7 September 2026). The limited-data set: 1 GB/7 days for $4.50, 2 GB/15 days for $7.50, 3 GB/30 days for $10, 5 GB/30 days for $14, 10 GB/30 days for $23, 20 GB/30 days for $36. The Unlimited set: 3 days for $12.50, 5 days for $20.50, 7 days for $27, 10 days for $35, 15 days for $49.

Both sets carry `is_kyc_verify: false`, no ID document or passport number asked at checkout, matching what the code itself shows above. Every package installs within a 365-day window from purchase and carries a 180-day top-up window (Airalo catalog data, checked 7 September 2026). Airalo’s mainland-France listing states the equivalent window as 120 days and says it runs from activation; the Mayotte listing publishes the number without saying what starts it. Both sets are data-only, with no Mayotte phone number attached, so anything gated behind a local SMS code sits outside what they do.

Which set to buy is a question about when you will install it, not about how much data you use. Unlimited for 3 days is $12.50 and 5 GB over 30 days is $14 (Airalo catalog data, checked 7 September 2026), but the two numbers do not describe the same thing. The three days start when the profile lands on the phone. The 30 days do not start until data roaming is switched on. A limited-data package can sit installed and unused for months inside its 365-day window before its clock starts; an Unlimited package cannot.

## How do you install it, and when should you do it?

Set up this eSIM for Mayotte on Wi-Fi before you fly, then decide when to switch data on based on which set you bought.

Airalo delivers the profile as a QR code or a direct install link; both need a working connection to load. iOS sets the Choungui APN, `wbdata`, automatically. Android does not: Mayotte is one of 73 countries out of 215 where Android needs that APN value typed in by hand (recounted 3 September 2026). The 10 August check read 66 of 204. The value itself is the same `wbdata`.

**If you bought an Unlimited package, wait to install it until you’re about to start using data: installing it early already starts its clock.** If you bought a limited-data package instead, installing early costs nothing, because its first-usage clock only starts once data roaming is switched on and a connection is pulled. Confirm the profile shows as installed before boarding, then enable data roaming once you land and reach an Orange tower in Mayotte.

## FAQ

## Sources and freshness

Checked against the Code des postes et des communications électroniques, Légifrance consolidated text, `lastup="2026-08-19"` in the source file, 736 articles.

Articles read in full: L32, L34-1, L39-3, L97-2 through L97-4, and L141. L34-1 and L39-3 carry their most recent amendment from loi n°2025-532 of 13 June 2025. L32 carries its own from loi n°2024-449 of 21 May 2024. Across all 736 articles the words “eSIM” and “e-SIM” appear zero times: the duties above are written for operators and lines, and reach an eSIM through those terms rather than by name.

Plan, price and activation-policy data come from Airalo’s Mayotte, Réunion and France catalog entries, checked 7 September 2026. The catalog-wide counts were recounted on 3 September 2026. They can change without notice, and between those two checks they did. Egypt left the installation-clock set, and the catalog grew from 204 countries to 215. No Mayotte-specific search-results snapshot or community thread exists in this project’s data as of this check. Every fact above was read from the code and the catalog directly, not from a secondary source.

> *Sources cited only — expert review pending. For individualized advice, consult a licensed professional.*

## FAQ

Does buying the Unlimited package early waste days?
Yes, under the installation-based set. The two Choungui listings for Mayotte carry different activation policies: the five Unlimited packages start counting at profile installation, the six limited-data packages start at first use (Airalo catalog data, checked 7 September 2026). Mayotte is the only country among Airalo's 215 catalog entries with this split (recounted 3 September 2026). Install an Unlimited package a week before flying and days are gone before you land.

Does Mayotte have its own telecom law, separate from mainland France?
No. Article L141 of the Code des postes et des communications électroniques puts the whole code in force on Mayotte in one line, added by décret n°2005-1068 of 30 August 2005. There is no separate Mayotte telecom code.

Do you need to show ID to activate this eSIM?
No such requirement appears in the code, and Airalo's catalog marks the Mayotte profile `is_kyc_verify: false`. Article L34-1 puts retention and verification duties on the operator, not on the person buying a line.

What happens if an operator fails to delete or retain required data?
Article L39-3 sets one year's imprisonment and a €75,000 fine for the operator or its agents, not the subscriber, over three specific failures: not erasing data when required, not retaining technical data when required, and not verifying and retaining civil-identity data as II bis, 1° of article L34-1 requires. A convicted individual can also be barred from the trade for up to five years.