Editing Telecommunications in Haiti (section)

== Telephones ==
{{See also |Telephone numbers in Haiti}}

* [[Calling code]]: +509<ref name=CIAWFB-Haiti-2013/>
* [[International Call Prefix]]: 00<ref>[http://www.itu.int/dms_pub/itu-t/opb/sp/T-SP-E.164C-2011-PDF-E.pdf ''Dialing Procedures (International Prefix, National (Trunk) Prefix and National (Significant) Number) (in Accordance with ITY-T Recommendation E.164 (11/2010))''], Annex to ITU Operational Bulletin No. 994-15.XII.2011, International Telecommunication Union (ITU, Geneva), 15 December 2011. Retrieved 2 January 2014.</ref>

;Land lines

In 2012, there were 50,000 main lines in use ranking Haiti 163rd in the world.<ref name=CIAWFB-Haiti-2013>[https://www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/countries/haiti/ "Communications: Haiti"], ''World Factbook'', U.S. Central Intelligence Agency, 7 January 2014. Retrieved 8 January 2014.</ref>

Natcom, the result of the [[privatization]] of Télécommunications d'Haiti S.A.M. (Teleco) in 2010, has a monopoly on the provision of landline services throughout the country. The Vietnamese company [[Viettel Mobile|Viettel]] bought a 60% share, with the Haitian government keeping the remaining 40% of the company.<ref name=":0">Le Nouvelliste : [http://www.lenouvelliste.com/articleforprint.php?PubID=1&ArticleID=79358 "Et la Téléco devient Natcom"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120310174710/http://www.lenouvelliste.com/articleforprint.php?PubID=1&ArticleID=79358 |date=2012-03-10 }} {{in lang|fr}}.</ref>

Teleco was constantly hobbled by political interference which affected its performance. A net generator of revenues for the government in the 1970s and early 1980s, Teleco's fortunes then began to decline.{{citation needed |date=January 2014}}

;Mobile cellular:

Despite wide-ranging poverty, [[Haiti]] increased its [[mobile phone]] coverage rate from 6% to 30% in one year (May 2006 to May 2007). Haiti is now the driving force in mobile phone growth in the [[Caribbean]], while [[radio]] remains the primary information medium for most Haitians.{{citation needed|date=April 2012}}

* 6.1 million mobile lines (102nd in the world) covering 61.6% of the population (2012).<ref name=CIAWFB-Haiti-2013/>
* There were two major cell phone providers: [[Comcel Haiti|Comcel/Voila]], [[Haitel]] until 2006 when [[Digicel]], a Denis O'Brien company, begun servicing the Haitian network. Later, Natcom purchased 60% of Teleco (the main landline company in Haiti for about 4 decades) in 2011, then it became a direct competitor to Digicel.
** Comcel, a subsidiary of [[Trilogy International Partners, LLC]], was a [[Time division multiple access|TDMA]] company which launched its service in September 1999.{{citation needed |date=January 2014}}
** Digicel Haiti, an affiliate of the pan-Caribbean Digicel Group won Haiti's first [[GSM]] license in June 2005 and launched service in early 2006.<ref>{{cite web |title=Digicel launches in Haiti |url=https://searchlight.vc/searchlight/news/2006/05/12/digicel-launches-in-haiti/ |website=Searchlight |date=12 May 2006 |access-date=8 April 2020 |archive-date=26 September 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200926182345/https://searchlight.vc/searchlight/news/2006/05/12/digicel-launches-in-haiti/ |url-status=dead }}</ref>
** Haitel, an independent company founded by Franck Ciné, a Haitian-American and former [[MCI Inc]] executive, adopted [[CDMA]] technology.<ref>{{Cite web|date=2010-02-19|title=Why Haiti's Cellphone Networks Failed|url=https://spectrum.ieee.org/why-haitis-cellphone-networks-failed|access-date=2021-10-23|website=IEEE Spectrum|language=en}}</ref>

In May 2006, Comcel and Haitel had a total of about 500,000 subscribers - a cell phone coverage rate of 6% for a population of 8.2 million. Digicel entered the market in May 2006. After one year of operations, May 2006-May 2007, Digicel went from zero to 1.4 million subscribers. The other two cell phone providers, Comcel and Haitel, responded by cutting their prices and offering new services such as Voilà, a [[GSM]] service by Comcel, and [[CDMA 2000]] by Haitel. As a result, Comcel and Haitel increased their subscribers from 500,000 to 1 million. As of April 2012, Digicel has about 3.5 million cell phone subscribers in Haiti.<ref>LaPresse Affaires : [http://lapresseaffaires.cyberpresse.ca/economie/international/201010/08/01-4330651-reseau-cellulaire-digicel-en-haiti-22-millions-dabonnes-en-quatre-ans.php "Réseau cellulaire Digicel en Haïti: 2,2 millions d'abonnés en quatre ans"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120420152934/http://lapresseaffaires.cyberpresse.ca/economie/international/201010/08/01-4330651-reseau-cellulaire-digicel-en-haiti-22-millions-dabonnes-en-quatre-ans.php |date=2012-04-20 }} {{in lang|fr}}.</ref> In May 2007, Digicel started offering two [[BlackBerry]] services with [[Internet]], one for enterprises and one for individuals. On March 30, 2012, Digicel completed the acquisition of Comcel / Voila, its main competitor in the Haitian market.{{citation needed |date=January 2014}}
  
;System

* Haiti's telecommunications infrastructure is among the least developed in [[Latin America]] and the [[Caribbean]] (2010).<ref name=CIAWFB-Haiti-2013/>
* Domestic facilities are barely adequate.<ref name=CIAWFB-Haiti-2013/> 
** Mobile-cellular telephone services are expanding rapidly due, in part, to the introduction of low-cost [[GSM]] phones (2010).<ref name=CIAWFB-Haiti-2013/> 
** Mobile-cellular teledensity exceeds 40 per 100 persons (2010).<ref name=CIAWFB-Haiti-2013/> 
** [[Coaxial cable]] and [[microwave radio]] relay trunk service. 
* International facilities are slightly better.<ref name=CIAWFB-Haiti-2013/>
** [[Communications satellite|Satellite earth stations]]: 1 [[Intelsat]] (Atlantic Ocean) (2010).<ref name=CIAWFB-Haiti-2013/>