French Guiana
Power & telecom standards in French Guiana
Connectivity Overview
Tempest Telecom offered dial-up internet access, WiFi hotspot access and broadband ethernet access in French Guiana. We also offered Iridium satellite Internet and Voice access in French Guiana for communications in rural areas without infrastructure.
French Guiana uses 220V at 50Hz. Power outlets are type C, D, E and telephone jacks are RJ-11.
Dial-up Internet Access
Tempest Telecom provided local dial-up access numbers in French Guiana at $0.155/minute. Travelers could connect using any standard modem with an RJ-11 telephone adapter.
WiFi Hotspot Access
Tempest Telecom provided WiFi hotspot access in French Guiana at $19.95/day for unlimited browsing.
Adapters & Power
Travelers from North America will need a power plug adapter. European Type C/F adapters are widely compatible.
Standard RJ-11 jacks are used. Most international modems will connect without an adapter.
French Guiana at a Glance
- Capital
- Cayenne
- Phone Code
- +594
- Voltage
- 220V / 50Hz
- Power Plug
- C, D, E
- Phone Jack
- RJ-11
- Currency
- Euro
- Dial-up
- $0.155/min
- WiFi
- $19.95/day
About connectivity in French Guiana
French Guiana uses 220V/50Hz with Type C, Type D, and Type E outlets — reflecting the territory's status as an overseas department of France with French electrical standards. The phone jack is RJ-11. Orange Caraïbe and Digicel French Guiana operate the territory's telecom infrastructure.
French Guianese commercial Internet emerged in the late 1990s as an extension of French metropolitan operations. Mobile data dominates current access.
The French Guianese prepaid international calling-card market through the 2000s served the modest diaspora — concentrated in France and Suriname.
Tempest Telecom served French Guiana through dial-up POPs in Cayenne. The Centre Spatial Guyanais (the European Space Agency's primary launch site at Kourou) generated substantial corporate-aerospace customer demand for satellite voice and BGAN data. The Amazonian rainforest expedition customer base and the Maroni River border-trade operations added further demand.
Modern French Guiana has expanding 4G LTE coverage with FTTH concentrated in Cayenne and Kourou.
Tempest's services across French Guiana, 1997–2012
Tempest Telecommunications operated international connectivity services in French Guiana between 1997 and 2012 under a unified prepaid account that absorbed multiple service types onto a single customer credential. Customers in French Guiana drew from the same balance for pre-paid international voice calling, RADIUS-authenticated dial-up Internet roaming, metered Wi-Fi hotspot access, Iridium satellite voice, and Inmarsat BGAN data terminals. An attempted kiosk-payment federation (PATN, 1998) extended the same architecture to public Internet terminals but failed to reach scale.
Iridium satellite voice was available in French Guiana from approximately 2001 (post-bankruptcy relaunch). Thuraya coverage did not extend to French Guiana; Inmarsat BGAN data terminals filled the broadband gap from late 2005.
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