MAPPING ICTS IN SOMALIA: POLICIES, PLAYERS, AND PRACTICES   Introduction This report offers a review of the policies and players that impact media and Information and Communication Technology (ICT) policies and practices in Somalia. The research, supplemented with interviews with senior policy advisors on ICTs, civil society organizations, journalists’ unions, and the private sector,1 suggests that the Somali Federal Government faces significant hurdles in constructing a national media policy. These can be reduced to the following four key challenges: 1) A weak central government; 2) A geographically and politically fragmented media environment; 3) A strong private telecommunications sector that benefits from a lack of regulation; 4) A preference by many actors for the traditional xeer and sharia law systems, rather than a formalized ICT regulatory environment. Background: ICT in Somalia Somalia has not had an effective central government since the breakout of a civil war in 1991. Virtually all government institutions were destroyed during the conflict. Yet in the last 15 years, the private sector has revolutionized the country’s ICT sector. While access to ICTs is still more prevalent in urban centers than in rural areas, access is among the most affordable on the African continent. The growth of the ICT sector in Somalia is demonstrated by the rising number of fixed and mobile telephone services, increasing use of desktop, laptop, and tablet computers, and the surge in the number, speed, and reach of internet service providers (ISPs). As with other countries in Africa, ICT is growing exponentially, but in Somalia it is growing in a market largely free from regulation. Most ICT companies operating in Somalia are Somali-owned and operated. Revenue generated by the telecommunications sector alone outstrips all other revenue-generating sources, both 1 A total of 34 interviews were conducted. Most interviewees spoke on condition of anonymity, which is typical in Somalia where many fear some type of retaliation if their names appear in reports. Names of interviewees are therefore not included in this report. Page 4 public and private. Abdikadir Jahweyn, former Minister of Information, Communication, and Postal Service, estimates that telecommunication companies in Somalia earn approximately USD 1 billion in profit annually, yet are not subject to state oversight or taxes (personal communication, March 2013). The ICT infrastructure in Somalia caters primarily to urban populations. In addition, ICT growth is uneven across the three main regions: the self-declared ‘Republic of Somaliland’ in the northwest; the autonomous region of Puntland in the northeast; and South-Central, which includes the capital Mogadishu. The two dominant companies, Hormuud and NationLink, are based in Mogadishu where much of the growth is concentrated. Data in the table below show the trends in terms of selected ICT parameter usage in 2012. Table 1. State of ICT penetration in Somalia as of 2012 (A. Jahweyn, personal communication, March 2013) Fixed telecom operators 6 Fixed lines in service 250,000 Mobile phone network operators 8 Mobile phone subscriptions 1,500,000 Internet service providers (ISPs) 28 Internet subscribers 80,000 Broadband subscribers 13,000 International internet bandwidth 160 Megabytes Cyber cafes 2,500 Fixed line cost per minute US$0.5 VoIP cost per minute US$0.015 Cost per month of internet access US$20 Cost per hour of cyber-café access US$0.5-1 Number of computers 500,000