After a recent review by the cabinet, Sierra Leone Telecommunications’ (Sierratel’s) exclusive right to operate the country’s international gateway has been extended by another five years, Sierratel managing director Alpha Sesay confirmed.
The gateway has been under Sierratel’s control for close to two years.
“Towards the end of 2006, we were given the exclusivity to the international gateway. That is, we were responsible for the channeling of all international calls in and out of the country. We were able to generate money through this service to sustain the company,” Sesay explained.
Despite the money generated, Sesay made it clear that Sierratel has been facing some major problems due to poor infrastructure.
“We’ve been finding it very difficult to compete favorably with GSM operators in the country,” he said. “A lot of our infrastructures were damaged during the war, and we haven’t gotten a replacement.”
He added that many of the company’s top executives have either retired or joined other telecom companies, eroding Sierratel’s human resource base and, thus, adding to its plight.
In June, members of the Sierra Leone GSM Operators Association called for the restoration of the rights of GSM (Global System for Mobile Communications) operators to control their international gateways.
Sesay, however, said that Sierratel pays each telco for every minute of international calling channeled through their networks.
“We pay GSM operators approximately 20 billion leones [US$6.8 million] every month for the traffic we terminate to their networks. We pay $0.13 for every minute we terminate to them,” he said.
