Telecommunications in Gabon include radio, television, fixed and mobile telephones, and the Internet.
Contents
Radio and television
Radio stations:
Radios: 208,000 (1997).
Television stations:
Television sets: 63,000 (1997).
There are two main broadcasters in Gabon. The state broadcaster, Radiodiffusion Télévision Gabonaise (RTG), operates two main networks - a national network in French and a provincial network in French and vernacular languages. There is also a special programme on RTG's FM frequencies.
Perhaps the most important station in Gabon and one that many shortwave radio listeners are familiar with is the privately owned Afrique Numero Un (Africa Number One) which operates on FM in the capital, Libreville, area and also broadcasts via shortwave. Afrique Numero Un also has relay stations in mostly French-speaking African countries.
Radio France Internationale (RFI) has relay stations throughout Gabon. Other privately owned stations also operate in Gabon, though concentrated mostly in the Libreville area.
Like many former French colonies, Gabon uses the SECAM-K television standard. Two television channels, 4 and 8, are found in the Libreville area. All other channels and repeaters relay channel 4.
The constitution and law provide for freedom of speech and press, and the government generally respects these rights, although the government has suspended newspapers and television stations for disrupting public order or libel.
Telephones
Calling code: +241
International call prefix: 00
Main lines:
Mobile cellular:
Telephone system: adequate system of cable, microwave radio relay, tropospheric scatter, radiotelephone communication stations, and a domestic satellite system with 12 earth stations; a growing mobile-cellular network with multiple providers is making telephone service more widely available with mobile-cellular teledensity exceeding 100 per 100 persons.
Satellite earth stations: 3 Intelsat (Atlantic Ocean) (2011).
Communications cables: South Atlantic 3/West Africa Submarine Cable (SAT-3/WASC) fiber-optic cable system provides connectivity to Europe and Asia; Africa Coast to Europe (ACE), cable system connecting countries along the west coast of Africa to each other and to Portugal and France.
Internet
Top-level domain: .ga
Internet users:
Fixed broadband: 5,147 subscriptions, 160th in the world; 0.3% of the population, 154th in the world (2012).
Wireless broadband: Unknown (2012).
Internet hosts:
IPv4: 169,472 addresses allocated, less than 0.05% of the world total, 105.4 addresses per 1000 people (2012).
Internet Service Providers (ISPs): Solsi Gabon offers a WiMax network all over Libreville and Port-Gentil. They were the sole provider to be operational through the death of President Bongo in 2009.
Internet censorship and surveillance
There are no government restrictions on access to the Internet or credible reports the government monitors e-mail or Internet chat rooms without appropriate legal authority.
The constitution and law provide for freedom of speech and press, and the government generally respects these rights. Libel can be either a criminal offense or a civil matter. Editors and authors of libelous material may be jailed for two to six months and fined 500,000 to five million CFA francs ($1,008 to $10,080). Penalties for libel, disrupting public order, and other offenses also include a one- to three-month publishing suspension for a first offense and a three- to six-month suspension for repeat offenses.
Although the constitution and law prohibit arbitrary interference with privacy, family, home, or correspondence, the government does not always respect these prohibitions in practice. As part of criminal investigations, police request and easily obtain search warrants from judges, sometimes after the fact. Authorities reportedly monitor private telephone conversations, personal mail, and the movement of citizens.