Société Centrafricaine
des Télécommunications (SOCATEL) was established in 1990 as a "Société
d'Economie Mixte" with 60% owned by the government and 40% by France Cables et
Radios, a subsidiary of France Telecom.
Inspecteur Central des
Télécommunications is responsible for the regulation of the telecommunications
sector. The Agence de Régulation des Télécommunications (ART),
the telecommunication regulatory body which was established in 1996, is not yet
operational.. Both SOCATEL and the Inspecteur Central are responsible to the
Ministry of Posts, Telecommunications and New Technologies.
The Telecommunications law of
January 1996 (Loi portant sur la réglementation des télécommunications en République
Centrafricaine) has led to the liberalisation of the telecommunications sector by
providing free competition for value-added network services and limited competition to
cellular mobile radio (currently limited to two operators).
Centrafrique Telecom Plus
has been established in 1996 as a 100% subsidiary of Socatel in charge of
value-added services, implementation, marketing and customer support. This includes
Internet service provision and X.25 packet-switching service known as Centrapac.
Currently, Socatel has monopoly on
physical infrastructure and international gateways, and the corporation has installed five
VSATs at Bangui in 1997.
Cellular (Mobile) phone network
Caratel,
established in 1995 and fully owned by Socatel, operates an AMPS cellular
network in the country.
Telecel is the
other AMPS cellular network operating in the country.
Telecommunications Projects
The following are some of the major
planned investments:
- Installation of 13 new central
exchanges from 1998/1999 to 2002
- Introduction of CC7 switching for
implementation of new services (1998-1999)
- Introduction of DAMA in
international network with Intelsat funding
- Installation of nine extra Domsat
sites to the existing eight (1998-2002)
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The Office
National d'Informatique (ONI) is the agency responsible for ICT development in
the country; however, there is little evidence of ONI's activities in the areas of
information and communication technologies.
Socatel has launched its Internet service in 1996 following the setting up
of Centrafrique Telecom Plus, a Socatel subsidiary responsible for
value-added services, namely Internet service provision and X.25 services known as Centrapac.
