Seven Years for Phone Service? Fixing Telecom, Internet in Algeria

KAMEL MERARDA/INTERNEWS Young Scouts in this troop in Batna, Algeria, part of the Muslim Scouts of Algeria (Scouts Musulmans Algériens), may be among the first in the world to earn an Internet merit badge. Below, Internews Project Director Bill Garrison, right, meets with Scouts in Batna.

Just a few years ago, Algerians faced a seven-year wait from the state-owned telephone monopoly. Even after customers received phone service, the quality was poor and prices for international connections very high.

On top of the disruption of a decade of civil turmoil in Algeria, those obstacles meant that, by the year 2000, less than 6% of the population had telephones and only a tiny fraction had Internet access. The Algerian government initiated a comprehensive liberalization of the telecommunications marketplace to address this critical infrastructure challenge.

At the beginning of 2005, in association with its Global Internet Policy Initiative (GIPI), Internews launched a project to assist in reforming Algeria’s Internet-related policies. Funded by the US Department of State under its Middle East Partnership Initiative and supported by USAID through the dot-GOV program led by Internews, the “Assisting the Internet in Algeria” project was completed in March 2006. The project helped the Algerian government and private sector stakeholders to address policy reforms needed to expand Internet access and use.

These stakeholders were able to agree to a concise statement of principles for Internet development in Algeria. An Internet advocacy organization was created to support ongoing policy reform and development activities consistent with those principles.

“The Algerian telecommunications reform program introduced remarkably successful competition on a progressive, sensibly paced timetable,” says Project Director Bill Garrison. “That reform has expanded consumer options, especially in the form of expanding cellular services, widely available cybercafés and increasing options for broadband access, and has set the stage for substantial growth in Internet use.”

Internews staff performed an in-depth assessment of barriers to Internet access and worked with government officials to prioritize and act on regulatory barriers. At the same time, Internews collaborated with business and civil society organizations, as well as members of the press, advising them on technical issues and assisting them in advocating effectively for eliminating barriers to Internet access.

KAMEL MERARDA/INTERNEWS

One unexpected outcome of the Internews project: Internews staff worked with the Muslim Scouts of Algeria (SMA) to develop an Internet merit badge, believed to be the first such badge to be adopted by any national scouting organization.

The hope is that this new generation of Algerians will no longer have to wait to join the 21st century.