The Riu levies very high charges for use of its phones and mobiles
do not work here yet |
Cape Verde TelephonesMobile Broadband, Internet ServicesThe standard of telephone service in the Cape Verdes today is equivalent to that in Central Europe a decade ago. Mobile service on GSM is patchy. For instance it is not available at the Riu Hotel in Ponta Preta on Sal. So calls from here are at a ransom to the hotel itself. Onlya few networks offers roaming, which is also very costly for local calls as the calls return via the base country. It is possible to buy a Sim Card from CV Telecom in Esargos by queuing for 45 minutes or so, The card will expire in about 2 minutes of use, so this is not a good deal timewise. Any unused portion is cancelled without reimbursement. There are Internet cafes and most of the Business oriented hotels offer Internet access. This can be very slow and there is not much sign of Broadband, The Belorizonte and Praiamar have Internet Wifi into the rooms. Getting a Land Line takes forever particularly if your complex has a local switchboard. At Murdeira the staff do not answer phones and they switch out your outgoing link. Either they or CVTelecom took over a year to install a bypass line. Things may be about to improve as The Cape Verde government has agreed to open up the market in 2007. CV Telecom had contested this in Court but has backed down. Mobile phones in Cape Verdes are operated by CVMovel S.A. It uses GSM 900/1800. Coverage is patchy but includes Santa Maria , Espargos and the airport on Sal , most of Santiago and the area between Rabil airport and Sal Rei on Boa Vista. Ideally you should fit a CIM card on arrival at the airport shop of CV Telecom as this will greatly reduce charges within the islands. You cannot send photos. Roaming arrangements are in place for: A new supplier T+ has been licensed to compete. The company is part of the Teylium Telecom group, which operates throughout West Africa. Initially, service will be limited to Santiago, but it will reach other islands in the next two years. T+ hopes to offer prices approximately 50% lower than those charged by CV Movel on international calls. T+ will invest $50m in Cape Verde over the next three years. Usdage is likely to double the number of mobile users in Cape Verde from 150,000 within four years. It will also offer data services, such as GPRS. T+ has as its partners Teylium Telecom (which holds 70% of its capital), BNP Paribas, Banco Interatlantico, Ericsson and the World Bank, which is financing the project through the IFC. T+ was licensed in 2006 by Cape Verde’s National Communications Agency, and has New York-based Alexander Group Telecommunications (15%) and company founder Marco Bento (15%) as major shareholders. Mobile phone coverage is patchy and erraticSal - Mobiles work throughout the populated part of the island but not out to the Riu Hotel. Boa Vista - mobiles work in the triangle between Sal Rei, Rabil and Estancia de Baixa only. In 2006 3G mobile phones did not work on Boa Vista. In 2007 both 3G and Vodafone work. According to A Semana Online " The Minister of infrastructures, Transportation and the Sea, Manuel Inocencio Sousa, and Portugal Telecom, the main shareholder in Cabo Verde Telecom, have agreed on liberalisation. The cost of international calls is likely to reduce and new mobile operators will offer service. In return Cabo Verde Telecom will double monthly line rental to £3."H from Shropshire phoned from the Riu. "One problem we encountered which I advise you pass onto anyone staying at the riu was the phones, we decided to take our mobiles only to find we could get no reception, so we used the hotel phone. I made 4 phone calls back home which to my horror cost me 120 Euros. I didn't talk for long approx 3 mins a call but at over 9 Euros a minute it didn't take long to add up. We were not the only people who encountered this problem one couple from Portugal had such an expensive bill they had to get someone from back home to pay their bill with a credit card as they didn't have enough money with them." |