Sudan

DRAFT DRAFT DRAFT - not for publishing yet

SUDAN. (not South Sudan that split 2011)

Sudan makes up the northern part of a country which in 2011 was separated to form the new state of South Sudan. Three quarters of the former population live in the north, where mobile market penetration is far higher. The country has a relatively well-equipped telecommunications infrastructure by regional standards, including a national fibre optic backbone and international fibre connections.

The economy has performed poorly in recent years, partly due to the effects of having lost much of its oil reserves to South Sudan and partly due to domestic volatility and social unrest. This has hindered the ability of operators to develop revenue from services and sufficiently invest in infrastructure upgrades. Sudatel since 2016 has invested in rural tower infrastructure to improve connectivity, though such measures remain far below what is required.

Competition in the fixed-line market comes from Canar Telecom, which was also majority-owned by Etisalat until Etisalat sold its 92.3% interest to the Bank of Khartoum in mid-2016. The operator opted to adopt CDMA2000 technology to cost-effectively roll out fixed services. In April 2017 the company secured spectrum in the 2.5GHz band which has enabled it to launch LTE services.

The number of mobile phone subscribers in Sudan dropped to 27.9 million in the fourth quarter of 2016 from 28.3 million in 2015, Radio Dabanga reported, citing figures from the ministry of communications. The ministry said that the number of internet users declined to 9.9 million subscribers from 11.4 million in 2015. Minister Tahani Abdallah Attiya acknowledged the challenges faced, notably the lack of foreign exchange, and complained about attracting and retaining qualified professionals.

- Zain 1st

https://www.sd.zain.com/English/pages/home.aspx

- MTN 3rd - south Africa

https://www.mtn.sd/home/

- Sudani (by Sudatel) 2nd 22% government

http://sudani.sd/PublicOne

- Canar (CDMA, LTE 2300 TD-LTE) - sold to Bank of Karthoum by Etisalat

GSM 900, 1800 MHz, 3G 2100 MHz, 4G (Sudani, Zain) 1800 MHz B3 Easy to get SIM card in Sudan,any where u will find it ,, cheap only 5 Sudanese pounds is equal about half Dollar
 * If you have a GSM phone and it has been 'unlocked', you can use a local SIM card purchased from one of the three providers (Sudani, Zain or MTN). It's an easy process involving only a few photocopies of your passport.
 * You can buy credit at many shops in the form of scratch cards.

Auch für einen kürzeren Aufenthalt empfiehlt sich der Kauf einer sudanesischen SIM-Karte (für ca. drei sudanesische Pfund erhältlich) und diese entsprechend aufzuladen, da die Roaming-Gebühren im Sudan vergleichsweise hoch sind.

The phone signal across the country is good for voice calls, in major towns the internet is good, once outside the quality drops significantly but does work very slowly.

SIMs can be bought widely in the market especially in big towns, and topup scratchcards can be bought on street corners. There is no need to register SIMs.

Don't trust the English versions of any website, always read in conjunction with the Arabic via Google Translate or similar. Local conditions may always be different from what it says on any website.

From 2014 all SIM cards need to be registered, not registered SIM cards have been blocked. Need copies of passport and passport photos. Fill out a form.

Die Hauptprovider sind Canartel, Sudani, MTN und Zain. Außerhalb Khartums sind nur in den weiteren größeren Städten Internetcafés zu finden. Die Verbindungsgeschwindigkeit variiert stark, macht Downloads z.T. zum Martyrium und Internettelefonie oft vergleichbar mit einem Funkerlebnis. Bei den letzten Unruhen in Khartum im September 2013 hat die Regierung mutmaßlich das Internet landesweit vorübergehend gleich ganz gekappt, wohl um die Kommunikation während der Demonstrationen zu stören. Zusätzlich erschweren die US-amerikanischen Sanktionen die Internetnutzung. Internetseiten, die nach Ansicht der Regierung die öffentliche Moral gefährden könnten, werden gefiltert.

The Sudanese government openly acknowledges blocking and filtering websites that it considers “immoral” and “blasphemous.”

APNs: MTN prepaid: "internet" MTN postpaid: "internet1" Sudani internet: "sudaninet" Sudani MMS: "sudanimms" Sudani WAP: "sudaniwap" Sudani TV: "sudanimtv" Zain internet: "Internet" or maybe "internet". Other Zain settings (probably also apply to connections wholly within Sudan - ie not just roaming). Zain MMS: "mms"

Zain Sudan, the local mobile unit of Kuwait-based Zain Group, has become the first operator to announce the commercial launch of 4G LTE services in the country. Under the first phase of its rollout, 4G network coverage will be extended across the capital Khartoum, Medani, Port Sudan and El Obeid, in cooperation with Swedish equipment vendor Ericsson, in order to reach around 20% of the population. Zain will then also work with China’s Huawei to expand LTE services to other regional centres of Sudan. Almost 300 4G sites have already been switched on, with 15 towns and cities set to gain coverage of the high speed network by the end of June, rising to 21 by the close of 2016. Mobile market leader Zain was awarded its LTE licence by local regulator the National Telecommunication Corporation (NTC) in February this year.

Sudatel Telecom Group’s domestic mobile unit Sudani has announced the commercial launch of a 4G LTE-Advanced (LTE-A) network. Services offer maximum downstream speeds of 150Mbps, with pre-paid tariffs ranging in price from SDG40 (USD5.9) for 2GB (valid for seven days) to SDG900 for 100GB (30 days) and basic post-paid plans costing SDG150 per month for 5GB and SDG250 for 15GB. Coverage is currently available in the greater Khartoum area, but the network will be expanded to other major towns and cities during the year.

TeleGeography’s GlobalComms Database states that Sudatel is Sudan’s second largest mobile operator behind Kuwait-based Zain Sudan, which launched the market’s first LTE network in April last year.