Telecommunications in Angola

Telecommunications in Angola include telephone, radio, television, and the Internet. The government controls all broadcast media with a nationwide reach.

In 2001, toward the end of Angolan Civil War, the government began adopting regulations to liberalize the telecom industry. This enabled private investments to revitalize the country's telecommunications infrastructure which had been severely damaged by the decades-long conflict. By 2012, Angola had one of the largest mobile telecom markets in sub-Saharan Africa and Internet access was growing steadily. The Ministry of Post and Telecommunications (MCT) oversees the telecommunications sector which is regulated by the Angolan National Institute of Telecommunication (INACOM).

Angola Telecom is one of twelve companies participating in the West Africa Cable System (WACS) consortium, a submarine communications cable running along the west coast of Africa and on to Portugal and the United Kingdom. The landing station for the older Sat3 cable, located at Cacuaco in Luanda, is operated by Angola Telecom.

Angola Cables is an operator of fiber optic telecommunication systems formed in 2009 by the major Angolan telecommunication companies, Angola Telecom (51%), Unitel (31%), MSTelcom (9%), Movicel (6%), and Mundo Startel (3%). On 23 March 2012 Angola Cables signed an agreement to participate in the construction of the South Atlantic Cable System (SACS) of about 6000 km length linking Fortaleza in Brazil with the Angolan capital Luanda. This cable is planned to be operational from the 2014 world football championship in Brazil.

ADONES (Angola Domestic Network System) consists of 1,800 kilometers of fiber-optic submarine cable linking eight Angolan coastal cities. About 70 percent of Angolans live close to the sea.

Other planned fibre optic cables to Angola include SAex and ACE.

Angola Telecom, the state-owned telecom, held a monopoly for fixed-line telephone service until 2005. Demand outstripped capacity, prices were high, and services poor. Telecom Namibia, through an Angolan company, became the first private licensed operator in Angola's fixed-line telephone network. By 2010, the number of fixed-line providers had expanded to five; Angola Telecom established mobile-cellular service in Luanda in 1993 and the network has been extended to larger towns. A privately owned, mobile-cellular service provider began operations in 2001. HF radiotelephone is used extensively for military links.

The state-owned Radio Nacional de Angola (RNA) broadcasts on 5 stations. Roughly a half dozen private radio stations broadcast locally.