Information:
The Gambia Telecommunications Company Limited (Gamtel)
was incorporated as a private limited liability company
under the Companies Act 1955 as amended under Cap. 95.
02 of the Laws of The Gambia 1990.
Gamtel is currently the only licensed fixed line operator
in the country and commenced business on April 1, 1984.
The firm took over the operations of The Gambia Telecommunications
Department and Cable & Wireless PLC.
It began operations with about 2,400 customers, most
of whom lived in the Banjul capital and its surroundings.
When it started operations, it only had a few analogue
Strowger exchanges for switching and a few analogue
transmission links to connect the limited rural towns
that had some service. It also had a Standard B Earth
Station, built in 1979, to connect to the outside world,
mainly the United Kingdom.
Between 1984 and 1986, it acquired its first digital
exchange, an Alcatel E10B equipped for 5,000 lines under
The Greater Banjul Area Telecommunications Project (BATP)
also known as Phase I. The project was fully financed
by Caisse Centrale de Co-operation Economique de France
(CCCE). The project included the construction of a 4,000
line local network and offered customers International
Direct Dialing (IDD) for the first time.
Between 1988 and 1990, Phase II of The Urban Telecommunications
Project was implemented, adding 8,000 more lines to
the network and extending service to the Major towns
of Yundum and Brikama, some 18 - 25 Km outside the capital,
Banjul.
Between 1991 and 1993, Phase III was implemented and
Gamtel's customer base increased to 16,000. A Multi-Access
Radio Telephone (IRT 2000) rural network was also deployed
in the Upper River Division (URD). To connect this rural
network to the Greater Banjul Area (GBA) network, a
400 km fibre-optic cable using PDH technology was laid
between Serekunda and Basse. This allowed for 18 major
towns on the route of the fibre to be provided with
limited service.
A digital Telex switch was commissioned in 1990 and
the company financed and commissioned its first major
project, an analogue cellular mobile service in 1992.
This remained in service until 2001, when the company
commissioned a subsidiary GSM mobile firm, Gamcel,
following its award of a license to operate a GSM mobile
service in 2000.
Between 1993 to date, Gamtel Gambia Ltd. continued to
steadily increase the size of its network as well as
its coverage. It financed and commissioned a Paging
service, Tamanding, in 1995 and an Internet Gateway,
co-sponsored by the UNDP under its Internet Initiative
for Africa (IIA). During the same period, Gamtel was
tasked by government to provide a nationwide television
and radio service (GRTS). By
so doing, Gambians had their first nationwide TV and
Radio. Prepaid calling cards and other value-added services
where also provided to customers.
Presently, Gamtel employs 1,125 people, about a quarter
of which are women. The operator has a fixed line customer
base of over 41,000 served by two digital Alcatel switches
both of which handle national and international calls.
Its national transmission backbone that covers over
70% of the Gambia is 100% digital mostly using fibre-optic
cables and SDH technology. There is access to telephone
services within eight km of anywhere one finds him/herself
in the country. There is nationwide access to the Internet,
and ISDN is offered to customers on demand. Its subsidiary
GSM mobile operator, Gamcel that began operations on
May 25th, 2001 now has a customer base of over 65,000
most of whom are prepaid customers. At present it has
30 base stations throughout the country providing coverage
to more than 70% of the geographical area of the country.
Apart from its core activities of connecting people
and training, Gamtel has over the years undertaken numerous
social and charitable functions. It has, since its inception,
trained hundreds of local people from primary to university
level, made hundreds of donations to civic society and
sponsors the mortuary and a ward in the main referral
hospital in Banjul.
In November 2012 Gamtel announced that it had created
D1. 450 billion in revenue in 2011, compared with D1.395
billion in 2010 but made a loss of D85 million dalasi
for the year 2011. This represents an increase of 4%
or D0.055 billion along with a gross profit margin of
33%. The increased revenue was from data, international
and interconnection services totalling D87 million.
Gamtel at 2011 year end had total non-current assets
of D1.120 billion dalasi for tangible assets of investments.
Sales for 2011 totalled D970 million of which D430 million
was incurred by payment of interconnection charges made
by the GSM network operators for phone calls made to
their network. D195 million was due to payments to foreign
carriers for carrying and receiving of international
calls on their networks. Gamtel had material costs of
D345 million in 2011 as opposed to D68 million in 2010
- just over a four fold increase.
Gamtel also upgraded its overseas internet bandwidth
from 2 STM-1s to 3 STM-1s which enhanced the total capacity
of their network from 310 Megabits to 465 Megabits and
up to 14 Megabits via satellite
Ownership:
The Gambia government owns 99% of Gamtel's shares and
Gambia National Insurance Company (GNIC) owns 1% of
shares. However, according to a report released by DT
Associates in November 2011 ownership was unclear due
to issues with legal documentation and a lack up current
memorandum and articles is not updated with the Registrar
of companies in Banjul.
Telephone Line Services:
• Voice Mail
• Call
Waiting
• Caller ID
• Recorded Calls
• Call
Forwarding
• Automatic Wake Up
• Abbreviated
Dialling
Internet Services:
Internet dial-up access with fixed line or wireless
Jamano Data, ISDN or ADSL. |
