Internet, Telecommunications Reform And Economic Development In Haiti

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The Private Sector
The flow of information from the diaspora in the United States has given Haitians greater awareness of the power of information and information technologies. This is apparent in Haiti's private sector providers of Internet service, which are indeed its bright spot. Mainly made up of young Haitian nationals, these entrepreneurs have invested their own resources, both financial and human, and have proven themselves prepared to take the risk of developing Internet in Haiti. This tenacious sector has not allowed difficulties with the local infrastructure to deter their enthusiasm or determination to expand the Internet in Haiti. Instead, it has caused them to work cooperatively for their mutual benefit. This is highly commendable, because the challenges of basic infrastructure in Haiti are not insubstantial.

With a population of over seven million and only about 40,000 telephone lines in operation (on a good day), Haiti has one of the poorest basic telecommunications infrastructure in the world. In more developed nations, Internet "piggybacks" on the telecommunications infrastructure where most customers reach Internet Service Providers (ISPs) via dial-up telephone lines or on private lines. In Haiti, the Internet is not accessible to the vast majority of the general population. The best estimate of the total number of users is about 3000.

The national telephone company, Teleco, does not have the capability, nor apparently the incentive to provide Internet access to the public. Thus a small but vibrant private sector has emerged to meet the demand for Internet access, mainly from business, educational institutes and students. Indeed, Teleco's crumbling infrastructure, bloated work force (one worker per 20 lines) and its arbitrary pattern of cutting lines to customers has hindered the private sector from expanding Internet service in Haiti.

There are five Internet service providers in Haiti: ACN, Netcom, Hintelfocus, Companet and Globelsud. ACN and Netcom have their own satellite gateways. Hintelfocus uses the MCI gateway. The other two ISPs have procured excess capacity from ACN and Netcom on a resale basis to provide dial-up access for their customers to the Internet.

The use of satellite gateways and spread spectrum radio-communications technology has only partially solved the problem of providing Internet services in this country. Most users still must depend on access to the ISPs by dial-up telephone, hence on Teleco’s deteriorated infrastructure. Only businesses and a few institutions can afford the $7000 installation fee for an Internet connections to their servers. Most ISPs have only a few lines connecting them to their dial-up customers as Teleco is unable, and in some circumstances unwilling, to supply additional lines.
In the case of ACN, Teleco removed its lines from service on the grounds that they were being used to provide international voice service over the Internet, thus bypassing Teleco and depriving the hard-put company of badly needed revenues. ACN countered by using the lines of its business customers during the evenings for its home customers. This is obviously not a firm basis for the nation’s first and largest ISP to expand its customer base.

Difficult infrastructural problems like that have tended to make the ISP’s cooperate with each other. ACN and Netcom both resell access to Companet and Globelsud to their respective networks rather than seeking to drive these competitors out of business. They realize that such cooperation will expand the market for Internet services. In addition, the ISPs participate and thus work cooperatively in the United Nations Development Programme's (UNDP) Sustainable Development Network Programme (SDNP). This project provides a forum in which the ISPs, Teleco, Conatel, USAID, UNDP, and other parties interested in Internet development can meet and discuss ways of enhancing and expanding Internet access. This facilitates an environment in which policies favorable to the Internet can develop. Thus, by providing a forum to exchange ideas, information, and experience, the UNDP/SDNP has contributed to the private sector's survivability in this uncertain environment.
On the positive side, Teleco charges a flat fee for local telephone calls, which keeps costs low to the customers using Internet. (In some countries where local service is on a per-minute basis, local telephone service can amount to 70 percent of the overall cost on Internet use.) Customers can purchase a 1.544 kbps line for $15,000. ISPs expressed an interest in a lower cost for high bandwidth lines.

The private sector needs the security and protection of predictable, simple, fair, and impartial and above all, transparent regulations and regulatory processes that are not unduly burdensome. The ISPs are adversely affected, but not defeated by the difficulties in the sector. They have nevertheless made remarkable progress in the face of enormous difficulties with Teleco, each other, and cellular carriers. They deserve to be strongly supported because they represent one of the best means of increasing service to the people of Haiti, especially through interconnection with cellular carriers and a functioning Teleco.

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