The Office National des
Télécommunications (Onatel) is a state-owned corporation in charge of the
provision of telecommunications services in Burundi. Onatel is
responsible to the Ministère des Transports, Postes et Télécommunications. The
penetration of telephone lines is highly skewed in the urban area, the capital city,
Bujumbura, accounting for over 84% of the total lines.The following plans are underway to
modernise the telecom network:
| Installation
of 5,000 digital line exchange at Gitega |
| Installation
of digital FH at Bujumbura and Gitega |
| DAMA
connection with Intelsat |
| Rural
lines increase to 2,000 lines |
| Installation
of one Internet node |
| Installation
of X.25 packet switching service |
| Computerisation
of Onatel |
Source: BMI
TechKnowlege Communication Technologies Handbook 1998
The privatisation of the PTO is
planned for 2000-2001 with government retaining 35% of the share, strategic partners with
51% and the private sector with 14%.
The Agence de Régulation
et de Contrôle des Télécommunications (ARCT) is in charge of the regulation of
the telecommunications sector.
Cellular (Mobile) phone
network
Telecel operates
cellular network in Burundi as a joint venture with Onatel. The cellular
network had 16,300 subscribers in 2000.
The Centre National d'Informatique is
the main government department involved in networking activities in Burundi. The Centre
has also set up the only full Internet
Service Provider in the country.
The Bibliothèque nationale
du Burundi is the sub-regional node of BIEF (La Banque Internationale d'Information sur
les Etats Francophones). BIEF is a programme of the ACCT (Agence intergouvernementale de la
Francophonie) and it mainly focuses on the transfer and sharing of information and
technology resources.
A project for the establishment of
the Centre National d'Information et de Documentation Scientifique et
Technologique (CNIDST) has been in process since the 1980's with support from
UNESCO.
