Connectivity Providers Database

Date: Tue, 4 Nov 1997 14:12:07 -0500 (EST) From: Moustapha Ndiaye <Serigne_Moustapha_Ndiaye@UQTR.UQuebec.CA> Subject: Internet connectivity in Senegal Country: SENEGAL ISPs: Sonatel: http://www.sonatel.senet.net ENDA Tiers Monde: http://www.enda.sn Universitaire Cheikh Anta Diop: http://www.ucad.sn Orstom: http://www.orstom.sn Refer: http://www.refer.sn Others: Government of Senegal: http://www.primature.sn Cyber Business Centre: http://www.primature.sn Having prepared for privatisation for some time, Senegal's PTT, Sonatel, has a reasonably well developed telephone network. Public telephones maintained by the PTO have been abandoned in favour of telecentre bureaus operated by small businesses. Sonatel also operates an X.25 service and a full Internet service. There is also an active NGO oriented Internet service, and the ORSTOM/RIO service provides links for the academic community. The launch of full Internet access in Senegal by Sonatel was initially met with scepticism over its ability to provide a well supported, reasonably priced service which allowed other players to enter the market. But these fears have failed to materialise - prices are low, the service is reliable, and other Internet Service Providers (ISPs) are free to enter the market. Sonatel provides a 64Kbps international link to the global Internet via a satellite circuit to the United States provided through MCI's managed Internet service. With about 400 users already, the popularity of the service and reliability requirements are now leading Sonatel to negotiate with a second service provider to provide a second circuit via France Telecom or possibly Teleglobe Canada which has rates 60% cheaper than many other providers. Sonatel's dialup service is only 10 000CFA (about USD20) for the first 4 hours a month and 1200CFA (about USD2.5) per hour after that. On top of this, the service is available at the cost of a local call anywhere in the country. To accomplish this Sonatel has established a special telephone number prefix (28-), which their accounting system uses to eliminate long distance tariffs. While this may result in some loss of telephone call revenues, it undoubtedly encourages the use of their service and eliminates the need for the extra hardware, leased lines and maintenance that would be required to provide local points of presence (POPs) in other city centres that would be necessary to set up a truely nationally accessible service. For rural areas which would still be a long-distance call away from any city centre, this facility is a real breakthrough, virtually unknown anywhere in the world. Surprisingly, this local call facility is also being made available at no extra charge to the other service providers now beginning to enter the market such as ENDA Tiers Monde - a large non-governmental organisation based in Dakar. Senegal is also home to PANA which has recently established the RAPIDE project which aims to provide Internet access and local web based information resources in every African country. PANA has signed a continent-wide agreement with SITA to provide connectivity throughout the continent, and a prototype national web server has been developed for Senegal (www.rapide-pana.com). The server includes facilities to connect real-time audio streams for broadcasting national radio onto the Internet and a field test has been carried out between Senegal and Washington. When the bandwidth becomes available PANA will add real-time video streams. Currently PANA is looking for local partners in African countries to take a 45% investment in the operation of the local service.