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Comoros: Transport and communications(EIU Viewswire Via Thomson Dialog NewsEdge) COUNTRY BACKGROUND FROM THE ECONOMIST INTELLIGENCE UNIT Poor infrastructure affectstrade Traditionally, few international shipping lines serving East Africa have called at Comoros. This is partly because of the small size of the local market, and partly because the coral reefs surrounding the islands make them inaccessible to large vessels. In late 2005, however, the Anjouanese authorities signed an agreement with a Danish shipping firm, Maersk, that is designed to transform Anjouan into a regional transshipment site. If the deal proceeds as planned, Maersk-operated container ships en route from Port Reunion to Dubai will stop at Mutsamudu every fortnight. In theory, this could result in a substantial increase in activity at Mutsamudu port, which has long been constrained by the fact that its shallow approach channel only allows vessels of up to 25,000 tonnes to dock there. Inclusion in the Port Reunion-Salalah route could certainly prove valuable. Port Reunion is one of the largest ports in the Indian Ocean (in terms of container volume), and if the Maersk service proves successful, other transshipment operators are likely to follow suit. A further boon for the ports industry was announced in September 2006, when a Dubai firm, Gulftainer Ltd, signed a contract to manage Moroni and Mutsamudu ports. Gulftainer has already agreed to increase the cargo storage area, construct warehouse facilities and introduce the latest cargo-handling equipment. Gulftainer already has experience in managing ports after many years controlling and significantly expanding operations at Sharjah and Khorjakken in the United Arab Emirates. By regional standards Comoros has a fairly extensive road network, with a density of 394 km per 1,000 sq km, according to UNCTAD. Equally, more than three-quarters of this is paved, compared with 11.6% in Madagascar, 18.7% in Mozambique and a mere 4.2% in Tanzania. This is the result of a rolling programme of work to upgrade roads throughout the country and improve links to rural communities. Nonetheless, maintenance of the road network has not been given a similar priority, meaning that many of the paved roads, particularly outside Moroni, are in a relatively poor condition. The government hopes to address this and to double the size of the road network, partly to facilitate the development of tourism and light manufacturing sectors, and partly because road construction and maintenance should provide a substantial number of jobs at a time when unemployment is running at around 15%. A slowly growing network ofair links The country's main international gateway is Prince Said Ibrahim Airport on Grande Comore, which is undergoing substantial renovation work carried out by a French firm, Coris. There are also domestic airports on Anjouan (Ouani) and Moheli (Bandar el Salaam). The national carrier, Air Comore, operated inter-island links and services to regional destinations such as Zanzibar until it was crippled by a botched attempt at privatisation in 1995. Numerous attempts to relaunch the national airline have failed, and charter operators have sought to fill the gap in the market. The number of flights to regional destinations is expanding, but regular services to international destinationsnotably France, where there is a large expatriate Comorian communityhave so far been limited to the traditional holiday season from end-June to early September and have yet to become established. In addition, there has been concern about safety standards in the market. In March 2006 the European Commission released its first EU-wide blacklist of "unsafe" airlines. This included Air Services Comores (ASC), which was the subject of "serious security concerns", according to the Commission. As a result, ASC is prevented from operating in any of the 25 EU member states. Telecoms privatisation mooted In 2004 the government announced that it was seeking a strategic investor for the state post and telecommunications company, Societe nationale des postes et telecommunications (SNPT), some seven years after parliament had passed a law authorising the liberalisation of the sector. In pursuit of this SNPT was restructured into two divisions, with postal operations carried out by the Societe nationale des postes comoriens (SNPC) and telecoms servicessubdivided into fixed-line and mobile unitsby Comores telecom (Comtel). The administration pledged to privatise Comtel by end-2005, but there have been delays in finding a foreign strategic investorunsurprisingly, given fears about political interference in the running of the telecoms service (any potential investor could face pressure to retain SNPT's workforce, for example) and the small size of the domestic market. Meanwhile, demand for mobile services has continued to rise. France-based Alcatel inaugurated a Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) system in late 2003, and the service has proved extremely popular, not least because waiting times for fixed lines remain extremely high, at more than six years, according to the International Telecommunications Union. The Internet The SNPT is the sole Internet service provider. According to the World Bank's 2005 African Development Indicators report, the number of Internet users rose from 3,000 in 2001 to 5,000 in 2003. This is less than 1% of the Comorian population and is highly concentrated in the country's main cities, where there are Internet cafes: there are just six personal computers (PCs) per 1,000 population (according to UN data for 2003, the most recent year available). The government is seeking to improve these figures, and the SNPT has pledged to increase Internet band width from 256 kbps to 1,048 kbps, although it has not announced a timeframe for this. Internet and PC use in Comoros may be relatively lowthe African average for PCs per 1,000 population is 13but the country does host a number of cyber-based gaming sites. For example, Slotland.com, which runs a large Internet casino, has been registered in Anjouan since 1998, paying an estimated US$20,000 a year plus US$10,000 of legal taxes and a registration fee. This makes Anjouan one of the world's cheaper destinations for Internet gaming sites, and the island authorities have been emphasising the cost benefitsandadvantageous offshore regulationsso as to attract other web-based gambling operations. The media Comoros has no national newspaper. The two leading newspapers are the semi-official Al Watwan (published on Grande Comore) and Le Kwezi (published on Mayotte); they are not available on the other two islands. The remainder of the press is also localised. Although several independent newspapers criticise the government, self-censorship is reportedly common. There is a national radio station, Radio Comoros, and RFO Mayotte is the local station for France's radio and television broadcasts for its overseas dependent territories. It broadcasts French and locally produced radio and television programmes, which can be received in parts of Comoros. Five local private television stations operate without overt government interference, and the national television service, Television nationale de Comores (TNC) started broadcasting in April 2006, using Chinese equipment and assisted by Canal France International (CFI). CFI provides 80% of TNC's programmes (including cartoons, films, documentaries, sports shows, entertainment programmes and a number of African series), while the new service also produces two 15-minute newscasts (in French and in Comorian) per day, as well as a half-hour debate show, Bangwe (meaning Speakers' Corner) several times a week. TNC currently broadcasts from 5.30 pm to 11pm daily. There are 23 TV sets per 1,000 people, according to the UN, less than half the average for all least-developed countries, but on a par with states such as Angola and Mali. Copyright 2006 Economist Intelligence Unit |