GUINEA'S BANDWIDTH WOES

UNCLAS CONAKRY 000388 SIPDIS E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: ETTC PGOV ECON PREL EINT ECPS GV SUBJECT: GUINEA'S BANDWIDTH WOES ¶1. (U) Summary. Guinea,s telecom infrastructure is one of the least developed in the world. With no fiber optic bandwidth capabilities, there are only two satellites that provide bandwidth capabilities for the country. A symbol of the GOG,s highly centralized nature, bandwidth is only broadcast into Conakry and then re-broadcast into the country,s interior which causes service interruption, overall service slow-down, and system failure. The GOG exacerbates the situation through attempts to extort extra tariffs, solicit monetary "donations," and prohibit sector expansion projects. End Summary -------------- Brief Overview of Telecom Sector -------------- ¶2. (U) The telecommunication sector is one of Guinea's fastest growing and most lucrative sectors. Five large international telecommunication firms operate in Guinea: Israeli-American owned Cellcom S.A.; French-owned Areeba Guinee; French Telecom subsidiary Orange Guinee; French-owned Intercel; and the Guinean owned Societe de Telecommunication de Guinee (Sotelgui). ¶3. (U) Guinea began broad efforts in telecommunications for the first time in the early 1990,s with government-owned cellular phone company Sotelgui. As part of a wave of government privatization efforts in the late 1990,s, the GOG privatized the telecom sector in 1997. Subsequently, larger firms moved in to take advantage of a market where few people had access to landlines or cellular telephones. Cellular networks are easier to install than landlines as they do not require extensive infrastructure. Today, the telecom sector has millions of customers across Guinea, and is currently the fastest growing consumer base in Guinea. -------------- An expensive business -------------- ¶4. (U) Due to poor infrastructural development in Guinea, companies pay much more for bandwidth than most telecom companies outside of Guinea. Intelsat, one of only two satellites broadcasting into Guinea, charges telecom companies $40,000 USD per year for every four megabytes of bandwidth. These costs are paid directly to the satellite companies, not to the GOG, and are well above the world industry norm due to a lack of satellite market competition and poor infrastructure. These high costs are ultimately passed on to Guinean customers. -------------- Double payments for bandwidth broadcasting? -------------- ¶5. (SBU) Hanuk Dombek, Directeur General of Cellcom Guinea S.A., told POL intern that in the months since the Demcember coup d,etat, the GOG increased tax payment queries, and subjected the company to extensive and extra-legal contract auditing. These policies left Cellcom paying at least a $300,000 USD tariff on satellite bandwidth broadcast into the country. The GOG does not own the satellites over the country and satellite bandwidth broadcast into Guinea is normally paid by the satellite companies to the GOG. Costs are then passed on to telecom companies, and the fees account for a large amount of double charging. ¶6. (SBU) Dombek said that while Cellcom never paid this tariff before, the contract structure did leave a "gray" area that obliges Cellcom to pay. When asked, Areeba and Orange said that the GOG demanded extraneous payments, but seemed hesitant to verify if payments were packaged with contractual pretenses. They also avoided responding to questions about the status of these requests and if they had paid extraneous demands to the GOG. -------------- GOG against submarine fiber optic cable? -------------- ¶7. (SBU) West Africa is the only region in the world outside of Antarctica that does not have access to bandwidth provided by submarine fiber-optic cables. France Telecom plans to change this by providing submarine cables to over 17 countries along Africa's western seaboard including Guinea. Although the service will eventually be offered to all telecommunication companies in Guinea, Orange,s connection with France Telecom will make it cheaper for Orange Guinea to operate. Embassy sources in the telecom sector informed POL intern that the GOG is against providing access to fiber optic cables because the practice of providing cheaper access to a subsidiary is "unfair." In essence, the GOG is preventing access to this new technology. (Comment: Embassy believes that blockage of this cable is meant to solicit monetary concessions from Orange. End Comment) -------------- Bandwidth only broadcast into Conakry -------------- ¶8. (U) One of the main technical problems with the telecom sector is that bandwidth is only broadcast into Conakry, then re-broadcast to the interior. This causes a number of problems: service interruption in Conakry and in the interior, and slow connection speeds. In addition, each of Guinea's service providers regularly experience communication shut-downs due to system "saturation." Without constant electricity, telecommunication companies find it difficult to maintain consistent operations and uninterrupted service. ¶9. (SBU) Comment: While the consumer base continues to grow in Guinea, the telecom sector remains underdeveloped. Customers are so accustomed to system failure in Guinea, that it is not unusual for people to have three cell phones with different company subscriptions as a way to hedge their bets when systems are interrupted. GOG involvement in double taxing and general company harassment may stifle plans to expand network operations or improve service capabilities. In a country where communication efficiency is declining, the GOG may worsen existing telecommunication problems. End Comment. BROKENSHIRE