Gambia
Power & telecom standards in Gambia
Connectivity Overview
Tempest Telecom offered satellite-only service in Gambia. Iridium satellite Internet and Voice access was available for communications in rural areas without infrastructure.
Gambia uses 230V at 50Hz. Power outlets are type G and telephone jacks are BT.
Dial-up Internet Access
Dial-up access was not available in Gambia. Satellite Internet was the recommended alternative.
WiFi Hotspot Access
WiFi hotspot access was not available through Tempest in Gambia.
Adapters & Power
A Type G (British 3-pin) adapter is required for travelers from North America, Europe, and most of Asia.
A British Telecom (BT) to RJ-11 adapter is required for connecting a standard modem.
Gambia at a Glance
- Capital
- Banjul
- Phone Code
- +220
- Voltage
- 230V / 50Hz
- Power Plug
- G
- Phone Jack
- BT
- Currency
- Dalasi
- Dial-up
- N/A
- WiFi
- N/A
About connectivity in Gambia
The Gambia uses 230V/50Hz with the British Type G plug — a legacy of British colonial wiring standards. The phone jack is RJ-11. Gamtel (state) and Africell Gambia, Comium, and QCell compete in the country's telecom market.
Gambian commercial Internet emerged in the late 1990s. Mobile data dominates current access. The post-2017 Jammeh-to-Barrow democratic transition shaped subsequent telecom reform.
The Gambian prepaid international calling-card market through the 2000s served the substantial Gambian diaspora — concentrated in the United Kingdom (Birmingham and London), the United States, Spain, Italy, and Senegal (the surrounding country).
Tempest Telecom served the Gambia through dial-up POPs in Banjul. The Atlantic-coast tourism sector (the Smiling Coast brand) and modest groundnut-export agricultural sector sustained Iridium demand.
Modern Gambia has expanding 4G LTE coverage in Banjul and the regional centers.
Tempest's services across Gambia, 1997–2012
Tempest Telecommunications operated international connectivity services in Gambia between 1997 and 2012 under a unified prepaid account that absorbed multiple service types onto a single customer credential. Customers in Gambia drew from the same balance for pre-paid international voice calling, RADIUS-authenticated dial-up Internet roaming, metered Wi-Fi hotspot access, Iridium and Thuraya satellite voice, and Inmarsat BGAN and Thuraya data terminals. An attempted kiosk-payment federation (PATN, 1998) extended the same architecture to public Internet terminals but failed to reach scale.
Both Iridium (global LEO) and Thuraya (regional GEO) satellite voice were available in Gambia from approximately 2001, alongside global BGAN data from late 2005.
Nearby countries in Africa
Equatorial Guinea · Eritrea · Ethiopia · Gabon · Ghana · Guinea · Guinea-Bissau · Ivory Coast