Communications in East Timor

Communications in East Timor

Following Indonesian withdrawal from East Timor in 1999, the telecommunications infrastructure was destroyed in the ensuing violence, and Telkom Indonesia ceased to provide services. A new country code (670) was allocated to East Timor by the International Telecommunication Union, but international access often remained severely limited.

A complicating factor has been the fact that 670 was previously used by the Northern Marianas, with many carriers not aware that the code is now used by East Timor. (The Northern Marianas, as part of the North American Numbering Plan, now use the "country code" 1 and the "area code" 670.)

It is also often extremely expensive: for example, Telstra in Australia raised the cost of calls to East Timor to A$3.00 a minute from 97 cents in 2003. In the UK, BT's standard rate is nearly £2 a minute [http://www.serviceview.bt.com/list/public/current/Cust_Opts_Bus_boo/2-3192_d0e377.htm] .

Telstra expanded its cellular telephone signal into East Timor in 2000, and operated services until 2003, when Timor Telecom, 50.1% part-owned by Portugal Telecom, began operating fixed line and mobile telephone services. Until recently, the fixed line network was mainly confined to the capital Dili, although this has been expanded nationwide, to each district capital.

According to a press-release issued by Portugal Telecom, the total number of fixed phones (landline) are 3,000 and mobile cellular are 103,000 (as of June 2008). There is no broadband or ADSL service.

Portugal Telecom signed a 15-year contract in 2002 to invest US$ 29 million to rebuild and operate the phone system. The contract could be extended by 10 more years, totalling 25 years of monopoly. 2003 gross revenue totalled € 10.5 million.

All voice and data are carried out by Intelsat, using a direct satellite link with one hop to their downlink in Portugal.

Telephones - main lines in use:
3,000 "(per Portugal Telecom press-release from Aug 2008)"

Telephones - mobile cellular:
103,000 "(per Portugal Telecom press-release from Aug 2008)"

Telephone system:
NA

Radio broadcast stations:
AM NA, FM NA, shortwave NA
The main station is Radio Timor Leste, broadcasting in Tetum, Portuguese and Indonesian. Other radio stations include Radio Kmanek, and Radio Falintil, and Radio Renascença, while there are also FM retransmissions of RDP Internacional from Portugal, Radio Australia, and the BBC World Service. Community radio stations broadcast around the country, in regional languages such as Tokodede and Fataluku.

Radios:
5

Television broadcast stations:
1 "Televisão Timor Leste" or "Televizaun Timor Lorosae" - broadcasts local programming in Tetum and Portuguese, as well as retransmissions of RTP Internacional from Portugal, ABC Asia Pacific from Australia and BBC World from the UK. The terrestrial TV signal is presently confined to Dili, with only taped broadcasts being available in Baucau, but the Portuguese government and RTP were to help build new transmitters to expand TVTL's coverage nationwide during 2006.

In May 2007, RTTL's television and radio services became available via satellite, using a transponder leased from Telkom Indonesia. [http://www.antara.co.id/en/arc/2007/4/14/telkom-wins-13-million-tender-in-timor-leste/] [http://www.lyngsat.com/telkom1.html]

Televisions:
NA

Internet country code:
.tp is the internet top-level domain code used for East Timor, based on its previous ISO 3166-1 alpha-2 code. However, the latter code was officially changed to TL when the country achieved its independence on May 20, 2002, and during the course of 2005-06, internet domains will change from '.tp' to '.tl'.

Internet Service Providers (ISPs):
2
Timor Telecom is an ISP itself along with one downstream provider, [http://www.inet.tp iNet] . The latter only offers services in the capital, Dili. Two-way Satellite Internet is in theory available, as the country falls within the Australian and Asian footprints of several satellites offering this service, however in practice licences are not granted for use of non-Timor Telecom services. As such, internet services are restricted to locations with landline telephone or dedicated line infrastructure. WiMAX and GPRS internet access are not available.

Voice over IP
Timor Telecom has sought to block some Voice over IP services on its network such as Skype, and as a result some such services may not function.

Internet users:
Dial-up: 2,100 "(per Timor Telecom press-release from Oct 2004)"
Broadband: 50 "(per Timor Telecom press-release from Oct 2004)"

External links

* [http://www.timortelecom.tl Timor Telecom]
* [http://www.inet.tp iNet]
* [http://www.nic.tl Timor-Leste Network Information Center]
* [http://www.rttl.tl Radio e Televisão de Timor Leste]


Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Нужно решить контрольную?

Look at other dictionaries:

  • East Timor — country occupying the E half of the island of Timor, & nearby islands, including an enclave in West Timor: independent since 2002: 5,794 sq mi (15,007 sq km); pop. 953,000; cap. Dili * * * East Timor Introduction East Timor Background: The… …   Universalium

  • Outline of East Timor — …   Wikipedia

  • Telecommunications in East Timor — Telecommunications Democratic Republic of Timor Leste …   Wikipedia

  • East Timor — Democratic Republic of Timor Leste Repúblika Demokrátika Timór Leste[1] (Tetum) …   Wikipedia

  • East Timor — Repúblika Demokrátika Timór Loro Sa e (Tetum) República Democrática de Timor Leste (port.) Demokratische Republik Timor Leste …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • List of East Timor-related topics — This is a list of topics related to East Timor. Those interested in the subject can monitor changes to the pages by clicking on Related changes in the sidebar.East Timor* East TimorBuildings and structures in East TimorAirports in East Timor*… …   Wikipedia

  • Indonesian occupation of East Timor — East Timor is located at the end of the Indonesian archipelago, 400 miles (640km) northwest of Darwin, Australia. History of East Timor …   Wikipedia

  • Indonesian invasion of East Timor — Part of the Cold War Date December 1975 Location East Timor Result …   Wikipedia

  • Civil Aviation Division of East Timor — Civil Aviation Timor Leste is a part of the governmental organization that was established under the Department of Transport Communications in the Ministry of Transport, Communications And Public Works (MTCOP) to promote the safety, efficiency… …   Wikipedia

  • Communications in Afghanistan — has dramatically increased since 2002, and has embarked on wireless companies, internet, radio stations and television channels. Afghan telecommunication companies, such as Afghan Wireless and Roshan, have been boasting rapid increase in cellular …   Wikipedia

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”