Liberia
3.4 Liberia Telecommunications
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There are a number of private cellular companies with good coverage in Liberia as well as 4G and 3G services. Registration of sim cards is fairly straightforward and data plans are available. There is also access to fibre connection in Monrovia with Libtelco being the main provider. However, outside of the capital, the infrastructure is reliant on microwave links that are hampered with power issues. There is still a reliance on VSAT technology in remote areas of Liberia.  

Telephone Services

Is there an existing landline telephone network?

No

Does it allow international calls?

N/A 

On average, number and length of downtime periods

N/A

Mobile phone providers

Cellcom, Lonestar, Novafone, and Comimum

Estimated availability and coverage

 Difficult to estimate but roughly 60-70%

Telecommunications Regulations

The government control is not very strict in Liberia when it comes to regulations as well as satellite communications equipment importation for the humanitarian community. Rules were especially relaxed during the peak of the Ebola emergency response and UN agencies were using allocated frequencies from the past.  

Regulations

Regulations on usage or import of:

Yes / No

Regulating Authority

Satellite

Yes

Ministry of Telecoms

HF Radio

Yes 

Ministry of Telecoms

UHF/VHF/HF radio: handheld, base and mobile

No

N/A

UHF/VHF repeaters

Yes 

Ministry of Telecoms

GPS

No

 N/A

VSAT

Yes  

Ministry of Telecoms

Individual Network Operator Licenses Required

  •   Obtained by local VSAT provider

Frequency Licenses Required

  •  Obtained by local VSAT provider

Existing Humanitarian Telecoms Systems

UN agencies rely heavily on UNMIL country infrastructure for security telecommunications and Internet services. There is currently an MoU between UNMIL and UN agencies to provide services across most of Liberia.  The Emergency Telecommunications Cluster (ETC) has provided services to NGOs in the locations listed in the table below. UNDSS is the lead inter-agency for managing security telecommunications. ETC will handover the existing security telecommunications infrastructure to UNDSS by end of December 2015.

Existing UN Telecommunication Systems

Organisations 

WFP

VHF frequencies

TX162.3000

RX157.2750

HF frequencies

TX 4736 KHz

RX 4736 KHz

TX 5185 KHz

RX 5185 KHz

TX 6896 kHz

RX 6896 kHz

TX 8998 kHz

RX 8998 kHz

Repeaters (Locations)

Monrovia
Buchanan
Sinje
Bopolu
Saniquellie,
Gbarnga
Voinjama
Zwedru

VSAT

Monrovia
Buchanan
Sinje
Harper
Bopolu
Saniquellie
Gbarnga
Voinjama
Zwedru

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