Telecommunications in Lesotho

Communications in Lesotho

Telephone system

Rudimentary system

• Country code +266
• Telephones - main lines in use: 22,200 (2000)
• Telephones - mobile cellular: 300,000 (2007)

• Domestic: consists of a few landlines, a small microwave radio relay system, and a minor radiotelephone communication system; a cellular mobile telephone system is growing
• International: satellite earth station - 1 Intelsat (Atlantic Ocean)

Radio broadcast stations

AM 2, FM 10, shortwave 1 (2010)

• Radio Lesotho 1050AM
• Ultimate 950AM
• Radio Lesotho 93.3FM Maseru only
• People's Choice (PCFM) 95.6FM Maseru only
• Radio France International (RFI) 95.4FM Maseru only
• Thaha-Khube 97.1FM Maseru only
• Harvest 98.8FM Maseru only
• Moafrica 99.3FM Maseru only
• Ultimate 99.8FM Maseru only
• Kereke Evangel 102FM
• Catholic radio 103.3FM
• Jeso KE Karabo 105.2FM Maseru only
• Joy 106.9FM Maseru only

Radios: NA (2002)

Television broadcast stations

2 (2010)

• Lesotho Television (LTV 151 on DStv)
• Trinity Broadcasting Network (TBN)

Print News

Main newspapers in Lesotho

• Public Eye newspaper Public Eye website
• Lesotho Times Lesotho Times website
• Informative News Informative News website

Internet

• Internet Service Providers: 1 (2000)
• Internet users: 5,000 (2002)

Telecommunications providers

Vodacom Lesotho started operating in 1996 with the Government of Lesotho as a shareholder through its stake in Lesotho Telecommunications Corporation. When the Government of Lesotho began its privatisation process in 1999, it invited bids for this share in Vodacom Lesotho. In July 2000, Sekha-Metsi Consortium, a group of local business people and public figures, was announced as the successful bidder. Sekha-Metsi now holds a 12% share in Vodacom Lesotho with the remaining share held by Vodacom Group. In 2008 Vodacom Lesotho introduced its new partnership with Vodafone.

Econet Telecom Lesotho is part of the Econet Wireless group and operates as a stand-alone entity with full local board and management control. It is the first African mobile service operator to use ForgetMeNot Africa's eTXT service to enable their customer base to send and receive email via any mobile capable of a simple SMS ^[1][2]

References

Country code (Top-level domain): LS