Telecommunications in

Somaliland Somaliland, officially the Republic of Somaliland, is an List of states with limited recognition, unrecognised country in the Horn of Africa. It is located in the southern coast of the Gulf of Aden and bordered by Djibouti to the northwest, E ...

, an internationally unrecognised republic claimed by

Somalia Somalia, officially the Federal Republic of Somalia, is the easternmost country in continental Africa. The country is located in the Horn of Africa and is bordered by Ethiopia to the west, Djibouti to the northwest, Kenya to the southwest, th ...

, are mainly concentrated in the private sector. A number of local

telecommunications Telecommunication, often used in its plural form or abbreviated as telecom, is the transmission of information over a distance using electronic means, typically through cables, radio waves, or other communication technologies. These means of ...

firms operate in the region, including Golis Telecom Somalia, SomCable,

Somtel Somtel (, ) is a telecommunications company headquartered in Hargeisa, Somaliland. Regions Somtel provides services in both Somaliland and Somalia. Background Somtel provides mobile voice and data services to customers, including Mobile Money ...

and

Telesom Telesom is a private telecommunication company established in 2002 by local entrepreneurs in Hargeisa, Somaliland. It is the leading provider of ICT services in the country and offers a wide range of products including voice and mobile broadband, ...

Operators

Golis Telecom Somalia

Bosaso Bosaso (, ), historically known as Bender Qassim is a city in the northeastern Bari province ('' gobol'') of Somalia. It is the seat of the Bosaso District. Located on the southern coast of the Gulf of Aden, the municipality serves as the region ...

is home to Golis Telecom Somalia, the largest

operator in northeastern Somalia. Founded in 2002 with the objective of supplying the country with GSM mobile services, fixed line and internet services, it has an extensive network that covers all of the nation's major cities and more than 40 districts in both Somaliland and

Puntland Puntland is an autonomous state that considers itself to be part of Somalia, despite not accepting the legitimacy of Somalia's current governing administration. It was formed in 1998, and was a federal member state of Somalia from its fou ...

SomCable

In 2010, SomCable Ltd announced that it was contracted to pull submarine cable from

Djibouti Djibouti, officially the Republic of Djibouti, is a country in the Horn of Africa, bordered by Somalia to the south, Ethiopia to the southwest, Eritrea in the north, and the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden to the east. The country has an area ...

port to

Berbera Berbera (; , ) is the capital of the Sahil, Somaliland, Sahil region of Somaliland and is the main sea port of the country, located approximately 160 km from the national capital, Hargeisa. Berbera is a coastal city and was the former capital of t ...

. SomCable invested over US$100 million to complete the project which employed more than 10,000 locals workers. Funding for the project came from local businessman Mohamed Said MSG. The project will ensure that high speed wireless technology capable of delivering sufficient scalable bandwidth to residents of Somaliland is available at the site. The initiative is completed in September 2014. Somaliland is currently the only Fiber operator in the country. As of October 2014, SomCable Launched the first LTE solution in Somaliland, the first GEPON/ FTTP solution in Somaliland.

Somtel

In 2008, Dahabshiil acquired a majority stake in

, a Somaliland-based telecommunications firm specialising in Slow omtel

mobile Internet The mobile web comprises mobile browser-based World Wide Web services accessed from handheld mobile devices, such as smartphones or feature phones, through a mobile or other wireless network. History and development Traditionally, the World ...

, and

mobile phone A mobile phone or cell phone is a portable telephone that allows users to make and receive calls over a radio frequency link while moving within a designated telephone service area, unlike fixed-location phones ( landline phones). This rad ...

services.International Association of Money Transfer Networks
/ref> The acquisition provided Dahabshiil with the necessary platform for a subsequent expansion into mobile banking, a growth industry in the regional banking sector.

Telesom

was established in 2001 to provide

telecommunications service A telecommunications company is a kind of electronic communications service provider, more precisely a telecommunications service provider (TSP), that provides telecommunications services such as telephony and data communications access. Many t ...

s in the region.About us.
telesom.net, 2013. Retrieved 8 July 2013
Archived here
/ref> Telesom currently controls 88% of Somaliland subscribers, with the remaining 18% shared between the remaining operators. The firm provides a variety of mobile communication products and services including prepaid call plans, monthly subscription plans, international roaming, SMS, WAP (over both GSM and GPRS), residential fixed line services, internet access as well as prepaid and postpaid G subscription services.

NationLink

NationLink Telecom is present in Somaliland and was one of the first telecom companies in Somaliland as a result of purchasing STC (first telecom company in Somaliland). IN 2010, a foreign investor was brought in with the intent of expanding throughout the region. However, after accusations of mismanagement and expensive equipment sent to sister company in Mogadishu, the investor left and the company ceased trading in Somaliland. The company was sold to Amal Bank in 2019

Regulation

On 13 June 2011, the House of Elders passed the law, without any amendments, on an overwhelming majority of 75 for, 1 against and none abstaining. On 5 July 2011, the President signed the law which is now in force. The bill was passed following consultations between government representatives and communications, academic and civil society stakeholders. According to the Ministry of Information, Posts and Telecommunications, the Act is expected to create an environment conducive to investment and the certainty it provides will encourage further infrastructural development, resulting in more efficient service delivery.

Satellite technology

Satellite A satellite or an artificial satellite is an object, typically a spacecraft, placed into orbit around a celestial body. They have a variety of uses, including communication relay, weather forecasting, navigation ( GPS), broadcasting, scient ...

technology is playing an instrumental role in Somaliland. Based on 2002 prices, a VSAT-based asymmetrical 128/64 connection in any given location in Somaliland costs $0.058 per minute. This assumes the connection is used 24 hours per day; seven days per week. The connection, and the associated costs, may be shared by several PCs to lower the “per minute charge” per PC. One tele-centre exampled in Somaliland showed the rate per PC to be $0.005 per minute.

References

External links

GolisSomCableSomtelTelesom
{{Somaliland topics Telecommunications in Somalia