Telecommunication
Infrastructure | Informatics | ICT Training and Development | Broadcasting/Media
Telecommunication Infrastructure
The Swaziland Posts and Telecommunications
Corporation (STPC) has been converted from a government department into a
corporation in 1986. The Corporation is responsible to
the Minister for Tourism, Environment and Communications. The main responsibilities of the
Corporation are the operation, maintenance and development of postal and
telecommunications services nationally. Added to these are regulatory duties involving
frequency spectrum management, type approval and licensing.
Teledensity:
- Total: 3.11
(1998)
- Largest cities:
10.88 (1998)
- Rest of the country:
2.37 (1998)
Digital main lines: 100.00
(1998)
Waiting list for a telephone
line:
- Total: 15,300
(1998)
- Average waiting time:
5.8 (1998)
- Total demand (k):
44.3 (1998)
- Satisfied demand (%):
65.4 (1998)
Telephone Tariff (in US$):
(where US$ 1.00 = E 6.22 as of May 1999)
| PSTN installation charge |
US$ 26.00 (Residential) , US$ 43.00 (Business) |
| PSTN rental per month |
US$ 2.23 (Residential), US$ 3.91 (Business) |
| PSTN three minute local call (up to 20 km) |
US$ 0.09 |
| Long distance call (over 50 km) per 3 minutes |
0.27 |
| International call to South Africa per 3
minutes |
US$ 1.40 |
| Leased line 64 Kbps to South Africa |
US$ 452.00 (Service available to RSA) |
Source:
Swaziland Post and Telecommunication Corporation - April 1999
Public telephones: 830
(1998)
Public telephones per 1,000
inhabitants: 0.87 (1998)
Mobile cellular subscribers:
4,700 (1998)
SPTC has issued in May 1997 an
international tender for the launching of the first GSM network in the country. The
successful bidder will enter a joint venture with SPTC. The latter will own 51% of the
equity, whereas the remaining will be shared by the strategic partner (30%) and the Swazi
nation (19%).
Cellular subscribers as a % of
total telephone susbcribers: 16.20 (1998)
Mobile cellular tariff: na
Telecommunications revenue (M
US$): 22.2 (1998)
Telecommunications investment (M
US$): 13.7 (1998)
Telecommunications investment as
a % of revenue (M US$): 61.7 (1998)
Telecom equipment exports (M
US$): na
Telecom equipment imports (M
US$): na
Telecentres: na
Facsimiles: 1,200
(1998)
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Informatics
The University of Swaziland (UniSwa)
is one of the major networking institutions in the country. UniSwa has
been connected since December 1996 through a 64 Kbps analog to UniNet South Africa via
Vets University in Johannesburg, South Africa. Plans exist to fiberlink all the
major departments.
A RINAF
Workshop on Internet Technologies was held at the University of Swaziland,
Kwaluseni, December 9-13, 1996, following a request from the University to UNESCO/RINAF
project. During the undertaking of the workshop, UniSwa was connected via
an analog land-line leased from Swazi PTT and Telkom South Africa to UNINET, the South
African academic network, at the University of the Witwatersrand. UniSwa
experienced multiple connectivity problems which were attributed to the line quality and
to the modems, and efforts to solve these had failed. The workshop has been highly
instrumental in solving these problems and sharing expertise in the technology.
There are currently 2 Internet Service Providers in
Swaziland with points of presence in Mbabane and Manzini.
Computer
per 100 inhabitants: na
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ICT
Training and Development
The Computer Science Department at the University
of Swaziland (UniSwa) offers
computer science courses as one of the major subjects in 2 subject majors, namely
Mathematics and Engineering.
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Broadcasting/Media
Radio broadcasting: Swaziland
Broadcast Service is state-operated, with 3 radio channels: The Siswati channel (local
language), the English channel and the Information Service (news/information).
Television broadcasting: STVA -
Swaziland Television Authority broadcasts one television channel with nation-wide
repeaters. STVA is a government parastatal covering 65% of Swaziland and reaching 85% of
the entire population.
Radios per
100 inhabitants: 16.3 (1995)
Television
receivers per 100 inhabitants: 10.70 (1998)
Pay TV
decoders: na
Cable TV
subscribers: na
Home
satellite dishes/antennas: na
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