Gambia’s national telecoms reports increased revenue, expansion, upgrade

Presenting the telecoms company’s annual activity report and financial statements for the year-ended December 31, 2011, Gamtel’s managing director Baboucarr Sanyang told the joint session of the National Assembly’s committee in charge of public accounts and public enterprises (PAC/PEC) that the company recorded a 4 percent increase in revenue and a profit margin of 33 percent.

The reason for the increase, he said, was as a result of the rise in international, interconnection and data charges. He added that international calls bill increased by D13 million, interconnection charges rose by D32 million while data users paid D42 million more than they did in 2010.

Furthermore, Sanyang said the company’s total sales in 2011 rose to D970 million, out of which D430 million was from interconnection charges to GSM operators for calls terminated on to their networks. D195 million was expended on payments to foreign carriers for the conveyance and termination of international traffic on to their networks while Gamtel incurred a material cost of D345 million in 2011 compared to D68 million in 2010, a D277 million which represented 407 percent increase.

The managing director also stated that the company’s increased revenue was largely boosted by an increase in the operations and maintenance of the international gateway.

Speaking on Gamtel’s technical activities in the year under review, Sanyang hinted the legislators on the company’s successful upgrade of its international Internet bandwidth from two STM-1s to three STM-1s. This he said increased the network’s capacity from 310Mbits to 465 Mbits and back up of 14Mbits via satellite.

Gamtel also signed a Delegated Management Contract (DMC) with the country’s Agency for Management of Public Works (GAMWORKS) for the refurbishment and upgrade of its facilities and sites in readiness for the NGN expansion project, aimed at keeping pace with the stiff competition from independent GSM operators.