Interview with Mohamed Ibrahim
Minister of Posts and Telecommunication
Somalia

After decades of civil unrest and violence in Somalia, which saw many of the country’s flee and scatter to different parts of the world, today Somalia enjoys peace, life has slowly returned to normalcy, with improved security and a peace which sees many Somalis returning home and participating in the reconstruction of their country. In fact, the Somali Government is encouraging Somalis across the world to return home and be part of this process, saying there could not be a better time to return home, than now.

As far as the country’s telecoms sector is concerned , according to a recent Buddecomm report, Somalia’s telecommunications market is unique in the world. There has been no central government since 1991 when a dictatorial regime was overthrown, but despite the anarchy that followed, the telecoms sector has flourished. It is highly competitive with at least seven mobile networks, which also offer fixed-line and Internet services.

There are no regulations or taxes and no service obligations, tariffs are among the lowest in Africa. However, the absence of regulation has also led to problems with frequency spectrum coordination and interconnection between networks.

In addition, according to Buddecomm, the threat of piracy in Somalia’s waters has so far prevented the country from gaining access to international submarine fibre optic cables, which means that it has to rely on satellites for its international connections. As a consequence, the broadband capabilities of Somalia’s Internet service providers are limited. Plans are now underway to land an international cable in the country for the first time.
Recent progress in the fight against Islamist militias and the formation of a new government are giving rise to hopes that the country may finally stabilise and become more attractive to foreign investment, which is needed to take the telecoms and broadband sector to the next level.

The new government is beginning to regulate the sector and is planning to issue new spectrum licences that will allow the operation of high-speed mobile broadband technologies.

Recent reports highlight progress which include new telecom licences to be issued and a belief that the new government may bring more stability for foreign investment. Liquid Telecom 2013 built the country’s first fibre-optic broadband link, although there is an underdeveloped broadband market. In addition, Dalkom plans to provide connectivity via the EASSy cable from the first quarter of 2014 and Telesom is expanding a mobile wallet service, to enable remittances from abroad. Within this process, the Somali Government has also embarked on an ICT roadmap to fast track the rebuilding of government institutions through the use of smart ID solutions.

The goal is to enable the government to deliver its services to all citizens, regardless of their current e-readiness. We spoke to Mohamed Ibrahim, the country’s Minister of Posts and Telecommunication, to learn what he thinks the future will look like as a result of this drive.

What is your vision in terms of the role of technologies in the context of rebuilding infrastructures?

We decided early on that the only way we could rebuild our country is through the use of technology. After 23 years of basically no functioning government, we needed to find a smarter and innovative way to smart track things in all spheres and institutions – whether population, financial or trade and industry related.

How are these institutions being re-established in terms of the use of specific technologies such as identity systems and methods, broadband installations and so forth?

There are many technologies the Government is investing in at present, but the two mentioned – identity and broadband are specific to the Somalian situation. One of the problems we have is being able to identify people as we lost a lot of records. We are therefore now introducing a smart ID system where we can identify the person, establish where they were born as well as many other details. While a chip has also been introduced in order to record fingerprints and other information, we are going beyond that to be more innovative – for example to provide each citizen with an email account linked to their ID card. This means we are looking well into the future even 20 or 30 years ahead, when we expect many people to have internet access.

In addition we are being more creative with the ID number and looking at this also being a person’s IP address so that in the future, this can link to laptops, mobile phones and tablets, which that person may own. In terms of security, it will also allow us to track people more efficiently and allow us to create a peaceful society of many years of violence.

How much time do you think it will take to reach the next milestones in this journey of creating a digital society?

As mentioned we have embarked on a policy of using ICT-based solutions, starting with the development of the Somali Government’s .so ccTLD which enables the use its domain name for serious government business – that is, emails, video conferencing, revenue collection, voter registration and other e-gov businesses.

Linking the Somali diaspora with their families back home to enable cultural links and strengthening of family ties is another project being developed. The provision of online and radio-based education for those with internet access – as well as those with short wave radios – are some of ICT innovations that will be available in the near future for all Somalis. Others already in place include The Somalia Chapter of the Internet Society (ISOC) and Somalia Open Data. The ISOC is a non-profit, non-governmental organization, local professional membership organization that seeks the generation of ideas and cooperation towards the growth and progress of the Internet and its applications among the Somali ICT community, with a focus on the localization of these efforts while also contributing to the larger goals of the Internet Society.

The purpose of Somalia Open Data is to make government data from Somalia transparent and accessible to the public. In addition, the aim is to present the data in such a way that it easily facilitates its use and interpretation, in particular through data visualization and an easy-to-use system for organizing and retrieving data.

What specific government service sectors are being addressed today in terms of creating or rebuilding lost infrastructures?

Apart from the education sector mentioned previously, the postal service is a specific area where progress is being made to re-establish it as a fully functioning operation.

To give an idea of the background to the devastation, in 1991 there were 100 post offices employing staff of 1668 across the country, but by 2012 there were zero post offices and only five people employed.

Today we have made significant progress. We have re-established our membership with UPU – and participate in the affairs of the Union. Similar efforts are underway with other UN agencies, and the rehabilitation of Mogadishu GPO is well underway.

All of this means the Somali postal service will start functioning soon. We believe the service to be the most basic and most common means by which messages can be communicated and goods delivered. Further, it serves as an important medium of communication for business and commerce.

As this level of modern telecommunications infrastructure is an essential requirement for rapid economic and social development of the country, Somalia is moving towards a fully liberalized telecommunications market environment. We are committed to timely delivery of high quality telecommunication and postal services at an affordable cost.