The continuous civil war in the country has
resulted in a very poor telecommunications infrastructure, particularly outside the
capital city. Out of the 96,300 connected telephone lines, 54.3% are found in largest
cities, mainly in the capital city Luanda. The ratio of lines to population is 1.74
per 100 in Luanda and 0.31 outside Luanda. The estimated number of "dead lines"
due to the war is 20,000.
Angola Telecom (Empressa
Publica de Telecommunicatoes de Angola), the national operator and mobile operator, was
converted from a government department to a corporation on February 11, 1997. INACOM
- Angolan National Institute of Telecommunications has been created as a public
institution by Ordinance No. 12/99 of June 25. Its mission is to regulate and monitor the
telecommunciation activities of non-basic services.
With the exception of Internet services
which are operated by the private sector, all other telecommunication services are under
the monopoly of Angola Telecom, including an X.25 under the name of Angopac (operational
since December 1997) and a VSAT service.
International traffic is carried out by the
Funda Earth Station, which has an IBS Intelsat connection. Angola rents a space
segment of 72 MHz. However, about 20 MHz are used to distribute Angolan national
television on a countrywide basis. Angola Telecom has major infrastructure
enhancement plans which include adding a fibre optic network for Luanda, and digital
switching in Canaan, Capuaco and other parts of the country. The total cost will be
approximately US$ 21 million. A US$ 7 million loan agreement was signed with the Japanese
Government.
The Angosat system is a
satellite-based network which covers most Angolan provincial capitals. The project is
known locally as Telecom II and it has been being financed by Caisse française de
développement. The first phase of the project built stations to link Luanda, Cabinda,
Benguela, Namibe, Lubango, and Ongiva. Phase II has yet to start; it is under negotiation
and should include the remaining provincial capitals.
COMATEL
is a joint venture between Grupo Visabeira (80%) and Angola Telecom (20%), the
telecommunications public operator. COMATEL operates all over the country, providing
telecommunications services and network engineering. The company also offers an excellent
training program for staff and technicians.
Cellular (Mobile) phone network
A cellular telephone system, known as Telemovil,
is operated by Angola Telecom. It uses AMPS technology and is available in Luanda,
Benguela and Cabinda including the routes in between. The system has a capacity of 7500
lines.
Unitel, operated by Portugal Telecom with
local partners, runs a GSM 900 cellular network.
Cardphone network
Angola operates approximately 240 cardphones
for a population of over 11.9 million.
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ANGONET is a computer
communication service provided by Development Workshop (DW) to organisations and
individuals working for social and economic development and humanitarian assistance
programs in Angola. Development Workshop is an international non-profit organisation which
has been working in Angola since 1980. The service aims to promote networking and the
exchange of information among NGOs, local government institutions, civic associations, and
development organisations working in Angola and within the Southern African region.
ANGONET was initiated as a project of DW with a grant from the Canadian International
Development Agency (CIDA) and material assistance from the CABECA project of the
International Development Research Centre (IDRC) and from the Canadian Council for
International Co-operation (CCIC). ANGONET has decided to become a virtual network with
its own PC server on the ISP EBONET's
backbone in Luanda.
SDN-Angola was established
by UNDP to enable the exchange of information about the environment and sustainable
development between the regional and international organisations involved in the SDN
initiative.
The Universidade Agostinho Neto (UAN) was assisted by a Portuguese
co-operation project to establish an analogue leased line link directly to Portugal.
The system is available to staff members and post-graduate students through the LAN at the
Faculty of Engineering.
There are currently 3 Internet Service Providers in Angola, and
one of them, EBOnet has points of presence in Cabinda and Benguela.
