Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha is a British Overseas Territory in the South Atlantic, consisting of the island of Saint Helena, Ascension Island and the archipelago of Tristan da Cunha including Gough Island. Their communications provision includes dedicated radio and television stations, and telecommunications infrastructure.
Much of the preceding telecommunications infrastructure between Saint Helena and Ascension was laid in 1899 by the Eastern Telegraph Company, later Cable & Wireless plc and Sure South Atlantic, as part of the British need to track the Second Boer War. [1] [2] [3]
Communications services in St Helena are provided by Sure South Atlantic (Sure SA), providing landline (POTS), mobile (2G/4G), internet (ADSL2), television (DVB-T2) and international connectivity. [4] They have an exclusive license from the St Helena Government to operate the aforementioned services, with the current licence running to 1 July 2025. All of St Helena's international connectivity was by satellite until the activation of the Equiano submarine cable in October 2023. [5] New telecoms legislation and new license terms are being drafted by the government, with the arrival of subsea cable access. [6] Cable and Wireless was the license holder from 1989 to 2013. Prior to 1989 telecoms were operated by the government.
There are three radio stations broadcasting in St Helena as of 2023 and two weekly newspapers, The Sentinel and the St Helena Independent.
Telecom services in St Helena are comparatively expensive, for example, all TV channels are encrypted and a subscription costs amount to more than one tenth of an average worker's salary. [7] [8]
There are three radio stations in St Helena as of 2023, all broadcasting on FM. All are also available on internet radio.
South Atlantic Media Services (SAMS), [9] supported by the St Helena Government, broadcasts two FM stations: SAMS Radio 1, providing locally produced news, talk and music programming; SAMS also rebroadcasts the BBC World Service. [10] SAMS also produces a weekly newspaper, The Sentinel.
Saint FM Community Radio broadcasts on FM. The station is legally a company registered by guarantee and is owned by its members; Anyone who wishes to can become a member. The station's sister newspaper is the St Helena Independent. [11] [12]
Previously, Radio St Helena, which started operations on Christmas Day 1967, provided a local radio service that had a range of about 60 miles (100 km) from the island, and also broadcast internationally on Shortwave Radio (11092.5 kHz) on one day a year. The station presented news, features and music in collaboration with its sister newspaper, the St Helena Herald. It closed on 25 December 2012 to make way for a new three-channel FM service, also funded by St. Helena Government and run by the South Atlantic Media Services (formerly St. Helena Broadcasting (Guarantee) Corporation). [13] Saint FM, [14] the precursor of Saint FM community radio, was launched in January 2005 and closed on 21 December 2012. It was relayed in Ascension Island and was not government funded. It broadcast news, features and music in collaboration with its sister newspaper, the St Helena Independent (which continues). As of 1997, there were 3,000 radios in the area.
Occasional amateur radio operations also occur on the island. The ITU prefix used is ZD7. [15]
Sure SA offers television for the island via 17 digital encrypted DVB-T2 channels, which rebroadcast a compilation of British and South African programmes provided by MultiChoice. [16] The feed signal from MultiChoice DStv in South Africa is received by a satellite dish at Bryant's Beacon from Intelsat 20 and Intelsat 36 in the Ku band. [17]
Television services first arrived in 1995 using 3 analogue encrypted TV channels, rebroadcasting a variety of foreign content from satellite. [18] [19] The current digital broadcasting network using the DVB-T2 standard was installed on the island in late 2011, replacing the old analogue system. [20] The feed signal is received by a satellite dish at Bryant's Beacon. [21] A local television channel was in operation from 2015 to 2017 by SAMS, consisting of a weekly news bulletin. [19] As of 1997, there were 2,000 television sets in the territory.
Sure South Atlantic Ltd provide the telecommunications service in the territory. They provide landline (POTS), mobile (2G/4G), internet (ADSL2), television (DVB-T2) and international connectivity. [4] They have an exclusive license from the St Helena Government to operate the aforementioned services, with the current licence running to 1 July 2025. All of St Helena's international connectivity was by satellite until the activation of the Equiano submarine cable in October 2023. [5] Sure SA operate an on island fibre backbone connecting most exchanges, cell sites and important institutions, with microwave links providing access to some areas. The access network is entirely based on copper, besides some important institutions.
The St Helena has contracted Maestro Technologies to build and deploy a full-fibre access network to the island, with fixed wireless access serving the most remote places. The network was originally intended to be completed by the end of 2023, [22] however has been delayed to an unknown date. Preperatory works have begun, however the main deployment has not. [23]
The island was first connected by a subsea telegraph cable in 1899 to Ascension Island and South Africa, forming part of the All Red Line. The government took over the telephone system in 1953. A radiotelephone link is established to Ascension Island in 1957, and in 1967 to South Africa. An automatic telephone exchange was installed in 1983. A satellite ground station with a 7.6-metre satellite dish installed in 1989 at The Briars, coinciding with Cable & Wireless taking over operation of the telephone network. This allowed international direct dial services for the first time. [24] In 1999 the first local dial-up service was introduced, followed by ADSL service in 2007. The first fiber-optic link was installed on the island in August 2011, gradually expanding the backbone to most areas of the island by 2020. [25] Mobile telephony was first introduced in 2015 using a mix of 2G and 4G technology. [26] The island was subject to sun outages at certain times of year, as a result of satellite only access. [27]
St Helena's first submarine fibre cable, Google's Equiano cable, was landed in 2021 and became active in 2023.
As of 2009 there were 2,900 main telephone lines in use on St Helena. Since 2006 it shares its international calling code +290 with Tristan da Cunha. Since October 2013 telephone numbers are 5 digits long. Numbers start with 1–9, with 8xxxx being reserved for Tristan da Cunha numbers and 22xxx for Jamestown. [28]
A 2G/4G mobile telephone network is provided by Sure SA and reaches 98% of the population.
Mobile service was first launched in September 2015, following an agreement signed between the St Helena Government and Cable & Wireless South Atlantic (now Sure South Atlantic Ltd) in July 2012. [29] A GSM/3G network was originally planned. [29] Installation began in April 2014, [30] however the contracted network equipment supplier, Altobridge, went into receivership, the procurement process had to be restarted, postponing the launch date. [31] The deployed network, after the second procurement, added 4G connectivity and is based on network equipment from Canadian Star Solutions International Inc. providing GSM-900 and LTE band 3 (1800 MHz) and Primal Technologies providing Advance Pay/Prepaid, SMSC, Voicemail, USSD, IVR, CTS service. [32] [33] The cellular network uses the MCC/MNC tuple 658–01. [34] [35]
ADSL2+ broadband internet service is provided by Sure SA. Speeds between 5 and 20 Mbit/s are offered, with lower tiers having data caps of 30-60 GB; higher tiers are uncapped. There are few public Wi-Fi hotspots in Jamestown, which are also operated by Sure South Atlantic Ltd. [36] As of 2023, the island is connected by the Google Equiano submarine cable, with a lit bandwidth of 100 Gbit to Portugal, and 10 Gbit/s of internet capacity. There are plans to deploy an island-wide full-fibre access network to better utilise the submarine capacity. [22]
Until 2023, St Helena's international access was via satellite link. Internet and telecom services on the island were severely restriced and expensive, with the top-tier internet plan costing £160 with a data cap of 31 GB and a speed of 2 Mbit/s. In 2018, the entire island shared an estimated 50 Mbit/s of bandwidth, with latency reported up to 600-700ms. [37] Diane Selkirk of The Independent wrote that "internet is slow and costly enough that only the most dedicated teenager keeps up on celebrity gossip." [38]
As of 2021, the territory had 1068 internet users; there were 6,873 internet hosts as of 2010.
As of 2023, St Helena has a single submarine cable connection, the Google Equiano cable. The cable was landed in 2021 and services over the cable were activated in October 2023. Prior to the cable St Helena's international access was only by satellite. Latency reduced from 657ms to 131ms after the activation of the cable, as well as providing bandwidth capacity orders of magnitude higher than before. [39]
Since 2012 a campaign called Move This Cable – Connect St Helena! lobbied for submarine cable access. Specifically they lobbied for branch of the planned South Atlantic Express (SAEx) submarine cable to land on St Helena. [40] [41] [42] On 27 October 2017 the St Helena Government announced the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding with SAEx to provide a branching spur to St Helena from the South Atlantic Express submarine cable between South Africa and South America. However the SAEx project never came to fruition. [43]
In July 2019, the St Helena Government obtained funding from the European Development Fund and issued a letter of intent to Google to connect St Helena through a 1140 km long branch from the company's Equiano submarine cable. [44] The cable was landed in St Helena in 2021 and services became active in October 2023.
As of 2023, OneWeb is currently constructing a satellite earth station at Deadwood Plain, to support operations over the South Atlantic Ocean using capacity from the newly inaugurated submarine cable.
The St Helena Government hopes to attract operators of satellite ground stations to the island who would lease capacity on the planned submarine cable for backhauling and so contribute to the operational costs of the latter, with a project launched in February 2018 seeing to this purpose. [45] Satellite ground stations on St Helena could support communications with satellites in low Earth orbit, including those in polar, equatorial and inclined orbit and with high-throughput satellites in medium Earth as well as Geostationary orbit. [46]
Sure SA provides all telecom services in Ascension Island, including telephone, internet and mobile services. The island does not have submarine connectivity. As of 2023, ADSL services are available with a maximum speed of 1.5 Mbit/s with a 14 GB data cap. [47]
Since 2012 Ascension has a cellular network based on the GSM standard which covers Georgetown, Wideawake Airfield, Travellers Hill and Two Boats Village. Initially, services were not marketed locally but instead only offered to visitors using their home operators' international roaming service. [48] [49] Local 2G and 4G services were launched in 2016. [50]
Separately, Ascension hosts British, European and US communications equipment for satellites, telescopes, spacecraft tracking and signals intelligence, and was historically an important mid-atlantic communications hub.
The island is linked internationally through the Foreign and Commonwealth Office Telecommunications Network. [51] All homes in Tristan have landline telephones. [52] BFBS and radio are retransmitted on the island. Internet access has been available since 1998, accessible in schools, government offices and through a public internet cafe opened in 2006. [53] The connection was initially extremely unreliable, connecting through a 64 kbit/s satellite phone connection provided by Inmarsat. In 2006, a larger satellite dish was installed and provided 3072 kbit/s of bandwidth. [54] In 2013, the connection was upgraded [55] and again in 2020, it was reported that the island's internet was able to support a video call. [56] After the 2019 storm, it was reported a municipal wifi network was being deployed for residents by Vodafone. [57]
As of 2023, there is not yet any mobile telephone coverage on the islands. [58]
Although Tristan da Cunha has an allocated telephone numbering range of +290 8xxxx, shared with St Helena, telephones in Tristan da Cunha use a London 020 numbering range, meaning that numbers are accessed via the UK telephone numbering plan.
Amateur radio operator groups sometimes conduct DX-peditions on the island. One group operated as station ZD9ZS in September–October 2014. [59] [60] [61]
South Africa maintains a staffed meteorological station on Gough Island; on Saint Helena island, there is an automatic weather station at Longwood and another station at Broad Bottom. Ascension Island has four meteorological stations: in the Airhead, Georgetown, Travellers and Residency. [62]
Saint Helena is one of the three constituent parts of Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha, a remote British overseas territory. Saint Helena is a volcanic and tropical island, located in the South Atlantic Ocean, some 1,874 km west of mainland Africa, with Angola and Namibia being the closest nations, geographically. The island is located around 1,950 km (1,210 mi) west of the coast of southwestern South Africa, and 4,000 km (2,500 mi) east of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Until 2018, the primary method of reaching Saint Helena was by booking a spot on the RMS St Helena—a cargo and post delivery vessel that also ferried visitors—which routinely made the 3,141 km, six-day journey from Cape Town, South Africa.
Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha are British Overseas Territories in the south Atlantic Ocean.
Politics of Saint Helena takes place in a framework of limited self-government as a dependent territory of the United Kingdom, whereby the governor is the head of government. Saint Helena, an island in the southern Atlantic Ocean, is a part of the British overseas territory of Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha.
This article deals with traffic in Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha, that is all forms of traffic in the British overseas territory of Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha.
Tristan da Cunha, colloquially Tristan, is a remote group of volcanic islands in the South Atlantic Ocean. It is the most remote inhabited archipelago in the world, lying approximately 2,787 kilometres (1,732 mi) from Cape Town in South Africa, 2,437 kilometres (1,514 mi) from Saint Helena, 3,949 kilometres (2,454 mi) from Mar del Plata in Argentina, South America and 4,002 kilometres (2,487 mi) from the Falkland Islands.
Tristan da Cunha is part of the British overseas territory of Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha and has a history going back to the beginning of the 16th century. It was settled by men from military garrisons and ships, who married native women from Saint Helena and the Cape Colony. Its people are multi-racial, descended from European male founders and mixed-race and African women founders.
Jamestown is the capital city of the British Overseas Territory of Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha, located on the island of Saint Helena in the South Atlantic Ocean. It is also the historic main settlement of the island and is on its north-western coast. Before the development of the port at Rupert's Bay, it was the island's only port and the centre of the island's road and communications network. It was founded when colonists from the English East India Company settled on the island in 1659 and was briefly occupied by the Dutch East India Company in 1673 before being recaptured. Many of the buildings built by the East India Company in the 18th century survive and give the town its distinctive Georgian flavour.
The governor of Tristan de Cunha is the representative of the monarch in Tristan da Cunha, a constituent part of the British Overseas Territory of Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha. The governor is appointed by the monarch on the advice of the British government. The role of the governor is to act as the de facto head of state.
The Supreme Court of St Helena together with the St Helena Court of Appeal are the Senior Courts of the British Overseas Territory of Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha.
The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to Ascension Island:
The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to Saint Helena:
The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to Tristan da Cunha:
Ascension Island is an isolated volcanic island, 7°56′ south of the Equator in the South Atlantic Ocean. It is about 1,000 miles (1,600 km) from the coast of Africa and 1,400 miles (2,300 km) from the coast of South America. It is governed as part of the British Overseas Territory of Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha, of which the main island, Saint Helena, is around 800 miles (1,300 km) to the southeast. The territory also includes the sparsely populated Tristan da Cunha archipelago, 2,300 miles (3,700 km) to the south, about halfway to the Antarctic Circle.
Lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) rights in the British Overseas Territory of Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha have gradually evolved over the years. Discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation is banned in the entire territory through the Constitution Order 2009 and same-sex marriage has been legal on the islands since 2017.
Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha is a British Overseas Territory located in the South Atlantic and consisting of the island of Saint Helena, Ascension Island, and the archipelago of Tristan da Cunha. Its name was Saint Helena and Dependencies until 1 September 2009, when a new constitution came into force, giving the three islands equal status as three territories, with a grouping under the Crown.
Country Code: +247
International Call Prefix: 00
The politics of Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha operate under the jurisdiction of the government of the United Kingdom. The three parts of the territory—Saint Helena, Ascension Island and Tristan da Cunha—effectively form an asymmetric federacy and collectively constitute one of United Kingdom's fourteen overseas territories.
SAex is a proposed submarine communications cable linking South Africa to the United States with branches to Namibia, Saint Helena, and Brazil.
In the island of Saint Helena and the archipelago of Tristan da Cunha, telecommunications are administered by Sure Saint Helena. There is a fixed five-digit number plan, and the country calling code is +290.
Same-sex marriage has been legal in Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha since 2017. An ordinance to open marriage to same-sex couples in Saint Helena was passed by the Legislative Council in a 9–2 vote on 19 December 2017. It went into force the following day, and the first same-sex marriage was performed on 31 December 2018. Same-sex couples have also been able to marry on Ascension Island since 1 January 2017 and in Tristan da Cunha since 4 August 2017.
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