Communications in Somalia Information & Communications in Somalia Links at HealthHaven.com

The following is an outline of communications technology in Somalia.

[edit] Overview

Somalia has some of the best telecommunications in Africa: a handful of companies are ready to wire home or office and provide crystal-clear service, including international long distance, for about $10 a month."^[1] This may seem rather unexpected in a country engaged in civil war; the public telecommunications system was destroyed or dismantled at the outset of the civil war by different factions. Abdullahi Mohammed Hussein of Telecom Somalia explained this by stating that "the government post and telecoms company used to have a monopoly but after the regime was toppled, we were free to set up our own business",^[2] The Economist cited the telephone industry in anarchic Somalia as "a vivid illustration of the way in which governments…can often be more of a hindrance than a help."^[3]

[edit] Telephone

There are around 100,000 (2004) main line telephones in use, but as of 2007 734,800 mobile phones.^[4]

The World Bank reported in 2007 that only about 1.5% of the population had a telephone^[5] resulting in the emergence of ten fiercely competitive telephone companies.^[6] According to the CIA World Factbook, private telephone companies "offer service in most major cities" via wireless technology, charging "the lowest international rates on the continent",^[7]

Somalia has the cheapest cellular calling rates on the continent, with some companies charging less than a cent per minute.^[8] Competing phone companies have agreed on interconnection standards, which were brokered by the United Nations funded Somali Telecom Association. Installation time for a land-line is just three days, while in neighboring Kenya waiting lists are many years long.^[9]

Companies providing telecommunication services are:

[edit] Mail

The New York Times has noted the private provision of mail services.^[10]

[edit] Radio and television

Radios: 470,000 (1997)
Televisions: 135,000 (1997)

Radio broadcast stations (2005)

AM 0
FM 11
shortwave:
- 1 in Mogadishu
- 2 FM in Galguduud
- 2 FM in Puntland
- 2 FM in Somaliland

Six television broadcast stations are active, of which two are in Mogadishu, two in Hargeisa and two in Boosaaso (2001).

[edit] Internet

Four Internet Service Providers (ISPs), one each in Boosaaso and Hargeisa, and two in Mogadishu (2004), offer internet access to some 100,000 users (2008), up from just 200 in 2000.^[11]

Both wireless service and Internet cafés are available. Somalia was the last country in Africa to access the Internet in August 2000, with only 57 web sites known as of 2003.^[12] The country code top-level domain .so is not in use.