When
thinking of booming mobile phone markets, Sierra Leone is not the
first place in Africa that springs to mind, but the country is going
through something of a telephony renaissance.
When
looking for the excitement surrounding the launch of wireless services,
most heads turn to Europe.
But
new countrywide GSM wireless services, launched by UK-based Gateway
Communications and Datatel GSM, are having a very real impact on
the economy of Sierra Leone at a time when the country is benefiting
from substantial economic growth, driven by political stability
and the considerable foreign investment that is flooding into the
country.
Liberalisation
of the country during the last five years by a forward-thinking
government has led to the deregulation of the national phone company,
Sierratel, and created the thriving telecom market Leone’s
are currently experiencing.
The
new license is also opening up the country by enabling it’s
people to forge closer links with those living in the provinces
- for some it will be the first time they have been able to communicate
with friends and family in the country.
Traditionally,
pan-African landline services have been the preserve of the chosen
minority because of high usage charges, long delays on implementation
and poor standards of service.
“Sierra
Leone is coming alive with people and business moving fast,”
says Christian Ogoo, managing director of Freetown-based Datatel
GSM.
“In
the last three years, Sierra Leone has undergone significant economic
development and social change through greater freedom of movement
and overseas investment.”
“As
a result, there is now a growing awareness of wireless telephone
services as people in Freetown and the provinces demand reliable
and cost effective telecommunications,” adds Ogoo.
With
landline penetration of under 0.5 per cent, Sierra Leone typifies
the traditional African market for telecommunications. Historically
monopolised incumbent telecom monoliths across the continent have
been slow to react to changes in the African business climate -
the speed of change and ability to react to market conditions aided
by an efficient telecommunications infrastructure is key to Africa’s
ability to impact on the global order in a digital age.
The
development of fixed line communications is still constrained by
a number of factors including most notably the speed of deregulation
within the African continent. But all this is beginning to change
in Sierra Leone.
The
reality is that the speed with which some governments are liberalising
the telecom sector is being overtaken by market demand for more
efficient, cost effective telecommunications services - a trend
which is being bucked by Leone’s.
The
use of mobile phones in Africa dramatically exceeds that of fixed
line devices, and such is the perceived value of mobile phones,
even by those on low incomes, that a significantly higher portion
of their household earnings is spent on communications costs than
in the developed world - statistics indicate up to 2/3 of household
income in Africa is spent on communications costs.
Recent
statistics show there are around 36 million pan-African mobile phone
users, a figure that is growing at a rate of 135 per cent a year,
numbers that are reflected in Sierra Leone.
“We
have seen there is a need to deploy CDMA technology for voice and
data consumers who are looking for a viable cost-effective alternative
to fixed-line telephony, while in urban areas we are seeing more
demand for GSM as fixed line services are either not in place, or
do not work,” says Ogoo.
Affordable
GSM wireless services are changing this to such an extent, that
the ability to communicate on either pre-paid or subscription-based
mobile phones is becoming as common a sight in Freetown as in Europe
or North America.
One
key factor in the telecom boom is the falling cost of calls for
business users within Africa. Until now, the high cost of making
pan-African phone calls has restricted trade opportunities to within
internal country boundaries because fixed-line telecom providers
do not maintain direct bilateral relationships.
Deregulation
and private partnership agreements such as that of Datatel-Gateway
in Sierra Leone have sparked a massive fall in the cost of pan-African
country-to-country calls and investment in telephony technology.
The
result is that small owner-managers and large corporations can trade
effectively without making substantial capital investments in communications
equipment.
“In
the last year there has been an upsurge in the number of wireless
users in Sierra Leone as people naturally want to talk and communicate
with their friends and relatives - this is something that is being
mirrored by the business community.
“What
we are now seeing is that entire households and neighbours are sharing
phones because of the low cost of phone packages that are available,”
says Ogoo.
Datatel’s
GSM service will roll out in Freetown in the second half of 2004,
and will also be extended to the provincial areas of Bo and Kabala.
Other
GSM services have been available in Freetown, but until now, subscribers
have only been limited to making calls in the capital. With the
advent of the Datatel agreement, the network will be the first to
venture outside Freetown, offering phone services in the four largest
provinces in Sierra Leone.
With
pre-paid GSM phone packages costing as little as $5, Datatel is
also taking the technology into less well off areas where previously
phones were luxury.
“People
love to talk, whether it is in the office, on a bus or just calling
home - Freetown and its provinces are no different to Johannesburg
and Cairo. What we are seeing are the fruits of three years’
work in the country,” says Peter Gbedemah, Gateway Communications
managing director.
“We
have worked with numerous service providers across Africa to establish
networks that uses local skills and expertise and is something that
we have been able to do in Sierra Leone - something that is unique
to this industry.
“As
the leading pan-African voice and data service provider, we are
able to equip Datatel with state-of-the art telecom facilities and
services and develop a local presence and strategy that uniquely
meets the demand of phone users in the country,” adds Gbedemah.
“At
first, we began by delivering fixed-line and data services to corporate,
government and NGO markets, then offered calling card and dial-up
internet access to the residential market.
“Three
years on, Datatel is now the largest ISP in the country and is a
leading player in the GSM residential arena. It is wonderful to
now see the fruits of our labour and the impact we are having on
daily life in Freetown when I visit, seeing people able to talk
on the telephone.”
The
telephony revolution continues apace. Plans for the next two years
include future projects to deliver new value added services such
as roaming and international data services.
This
article first appeared in New African magazine in June 2004 issue
and on www.africasia.com.
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