"It is essential to invest in telecommunications if the country wants to become competitive"

The general director of telecommunications operator Paratus-Internet Technologies Angola believes in the country's potential for developing the sector, but warns that there needs to be a real commitment to this segment, which is seen as the basis for the sustainability of Angola's growth.

Paratus Internet Technologies Angola has been one of the telecommunications companies on the market for a number of years. What is the reality of the sector in the country today?

The sector is part of the country's general situation. As we know, our economy has been going through ups and downs over the years, since independence, and the sector is not excluded from this conjuncture that is the country. Telecommunications is a capital-intensive sector, and this capital is indexed to foreign currency. This year, we've had a fairly sharp devaluation, from January to date, and this has meant that companies have had to review their investment plans. On the other hand, on the operational side, what the companies' operating costs are, we still have some costs indexed to foreign currency, for example content, licenses, the space segment, international communications, which means that companies are managed very strictly and with restricted processes in order to stay in the market.

With these constraints, is it possible to bring telecommunications up to the standards of other regions, such as SADC?

In many ways we are above the level of the region. Each country has its own specificities. If we look at Namibia, it's a very different reality from, for example, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Mozambique or Botswana. We often make comparisons and take the context out of the comparison. I can say that Paratus, in terms of its Data Center, is in no way inferior to international Data Centers, including European ones. It's true that we still have many challenges, a lot to do in terms of spreading the network to the east of the country. The country develops a lot on the coast. The second line, I'm talking about municipalities and other levels, over the years there have been many investments at the beginning and perhaps we wouldn't have been so effective in this investment.

Why?

It wasn't just in telecommunications. It was also in other sectors, somewhat due to the desire to make a country fast. And I'm talking above all about the post-war period. And it wasn't just the public sector, the private sector wasn't so assertive either. Today the direction is different. There is more maturity in the sector, investments are being made more assertively, but in any case we still have a lot to do.

We have situations like the ones that are happening now where, when there is a breakdown in a submarine cable, we have difficulties with telecommunications services. Are situations like this still justified in the market?

Angola is privileged. Some countries are in worse situations than ours. Angola has three cables. WACS and SAT3, which run from Cape Town to Portugal, and these two were affected. But we have an alternative cable to Brazil. On the other hand, with other operators like us, we can direct traffic to South Africa and then use a fourth cable that doesn't stop in Angola, but runs along the west coast of Africa, which is the Equiano, and take our traffic to Europe. At the moment, there aren't so many constraints, but the cables haven't been repaired yet. There was a period when the operators had to balance their traffic better, which is normal in this operation.

Why do these cable breaks happen?

It's normal for this to happen. It's probably due to the current of the Congo River where the break occurred, but the other cable is operational and has been the main support for international communications in Angola.

What can we still improve in terms of telecommunications operations?

We have a lot to do. Take, for example, the sharing of telecommunications infrastructure. By sharing infrastructure, operators will optimize their investment costs. For example, it doesn't make much sense on the Luanda-Benguela border for several operators to carry optical fiber on the same side of the road. When an incident happens, such as a landslide or a bridge collapsing, Benguela is left without communications.

Is it a problem?

If infrastructure were shared, for example fiber optics or even services, regional concessions could be made. One operator would go directly to Benguela via Sumbe, another could go via Waku Kungo and a third could go via Huambo and from Huambo to Lobito and a national network would be formed. The winners would be the investment, the companies and the public, who end up footing the bill for the investments. Not forgetting the quality of service. That's what's missing.

There is legislation on infrastructure sharing. Is it not applied?

The legislation is very well drafted, what is really needed is to put this law into practice.

Is there no will among the operators?

The regulator has done a remarkable job in this respect. But there is still some reluctance, even on the part of us operators. There is perhaps a lack of greater action and a greater sense of regulation on the part of the regulator itself to enforce the law.

Could this have something to do with mistrust between operators?

It's not just Angola. Countries that today already share a lot of infrastructure have also gone through this process. It's natural that operators come with a history of building their own networks and don't want to share infrastructure. But then the maturing of the telecommunications eco-system means that everyone, regulator and operators, understand that it makes sense and are moving towards sharing. We need to do things quickly, we have to skip stages and we have no choice if we want to catch up with other benchmark countries. But we also have to be patient on some issues.

Doesn't not sharing infrastructure make the telecommunications business more expensive?

We could share investments and this would end up being reflected in some way in the final price of telecommunications. But I don't want to give the wrong message here that this is the main factor for what is called high telecommunications prices in Angola, which I absolutely disagree with. Telecommunications in Angola are cheap