Gambia Telecommunications

For information on Gambia telecommunications contact details, please see the following link:

4.8 Gambia Additional Service Provision Contact List

Formulation of policy on telecoms services (telephone, GSM and Internet services) is the responsibility of the Department of State for Communication, Information and Information Technology (DoSCIIT). DoSCIIT is responsible for the approval and issue of licenses, issue of frequencies and the collection of the appropriate license and spectrum fees. A government agency PURA (Public Utilities Regulatory Agency) was created by an act of the National Assembly to regulate the sector (in addition to other public utility sectors).

Although telephone/GSM services are available nationwide, there are some areas where low or no coverage are experienced for all the providers. The three operating GSM companies provide normal mobile telephone services (Calling, SMS). COMIUM provides GPRS services. QCELL plans to have Internet and video services as well when they launch.

Telephone Services
Is there an existing landline telephone network? (Yes / No)	Yes. Only one land line operator
Does it allow international calls? (Yes / No)	Yes
On average, number and length of downtime periods	n/a
Mobile phone providers (List)	Yes. GAMTEL (Gambia Telecommunications Co. Limited)
Estimated availability and coverage (Approximate percentage of national coverage)	Nationwide

Telecommunication Regulation

Regulations
Regulations on usage or import of:	Yes / No	Regulating Authority
Satellite	No	There are no regulations regarding what Satellites to connect to. Once a VSAT license is obtained, one can connect to any satellite service provider.
HF Radio	Yes	An authorisation is required which is obtainable from DoSCIIT upon application in writing giving general information such as the reason why it is required, number of repeaters, number of hand held equipment and number of vehicle mounted equipment, simplex or duplex.
UHF/VHF/HF radio: handheld, base and mobile	Yes	An authorisation is required which is obtainable from DoSCIIT upon application in writing giving general information such as the reason why it is required, number of repeaters, number of hand held equipment and number of vehicle mounted equipment, simplex or duplex.
UHF/VHF repeaters	Yes	An authorisation is required which is obtainable from DoSCIIT upon application in writing giving general information such as the reason why it is required, number of repeaters, number of hand held equipment and number of vehicle mounted equipment, simplex or duplex.
GPS	Yes	An authorisation is required which is obtainable from DoSCIIT upon application in writing giving general information such as the reason why it is required, number of repeaters, number of hand held equipment and number of vehicle mounted equipment, simplex or duplex.
VSAT	Yes	A license is required. There are 3 categories of license: 1. Commercial/corporate (Banks) 2. Private non-commercial (diplomatic missions, UN System) 3. Educational (NGOs)
Individual Network Operator Licenses Required n/a Frequency Licenses Required UHF/VHF/HF - Written application for authorization to use and install to DoSCIIT. No license fees required to be paid but spectrum fees are paid annually unless there is a waiver from DoSCIIT VSAT - A license is obtained through filling in a VSAT License application form obtainable from DoSCIIT at a cost of D10, 000.00 (~ US$400) – non refundable. The annual license and frequency spectrum charges will depend on the category of license granted. No import license is required once a license or authorization has been obtained to operate/install any of the above.

Existing Humanitarian Telecoms Systems

All the UN agencies are connected to one single VHF and HF system housed in UN House, where WFP, UNDP and UNICEF have offices. UNDP, WFP, UNICEF and WHO each have their independent VSATs.

It will be technically feasible for WFP, UNDP and UNICEF to share each others VSAT connection, but some expert configuration has to be made since each of these VSATs has different routing configurations.

Existing UN Telecommunication Systems
Organisations	UNDP	UNICEF	UNAIDS	UNFPA	FAO	UNHCR	WHO
VHF frequencies	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
HF frequencies	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Repeaters (Locations)	Yes	Yes	n/a	n/a	Yes	No	Yes
VSAT	Yes	Yes	No	No	No	No	No

For information on Gambia telecommunications contact details, please see the following link:

4.8 Gambia Additional Service Provision Contact List

4.1 Gambia Government Contact List

For information on Gambia telecommunications additional details, please see the following document:

Gambia Telecommunications Additional Details

Note: The information provided in the attached documents, which has been taken from the old DLCA, does not match the structure of the new LCA and is therefore provided separately.