Guinea-Bissau
Power & telecom standards in Guinea-Bissau
Connectivity Overview
Tempest Telecom offered satellite-only service in Guinea-Bissau. Iridium satellite Internet and Voice access was available for communications in rural areas without infrastructure.
Guinea-Bissau uses 220V at 50Hz. Power outlets are type C and telephone jacks are RJ-11.
Dial-up Internet Access
Dial-up access was not available in Guinea-Bissau. Satellite Internet was the recommended alternative.
WiFi Hotspot Access
WiFi hotspot access was not available through Tempest in Guinea-Bissau.
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.
Guinea-Bissau at a Glance
- Capital
- Bissau
- Phone Code
- +245
- Voltage
- 220V / 50Hz
- Power Plug
- C
- Phone Jack
- RJ-11
- Currency
- CFA Franc
- Dial-up
- N/A
- WiFi
- N/A
About connectivity in Guinea-Bissau
Guinea-Bissau uses 220V/50Hz with Type C outlets — Portuguese colonial-era wiring. The phone jack is RJ-11. Orange Bissau and MTN compete in the country's small telecom market.
Bissau-Guinean commercial Internet emerged in the late 1990s. The country's recurring political instability has constrained sustained infrastructure investment.
The Bissau-Guinean prepaid international calling-card market through the 2000s served the modest diaspora — concentrated in Portugal (the colonial-era community), Senegal, and France.
Tempest Telecom served Guinea-Bissau through limited dial-up arrangements. Iridium satphones served the cashew-export agricultural sector and humanitarian operators.
Modern Guinea-Bissau has expanding mobile-data coverage centered on Bissau.
Tempest's services across Guinea-Bissau, 1997–2012
Tempest Telecommunications operated international connectivity services in Guinea-Bissau between 1997 and 2012 under a unified prepaid account that absorbed multiple service types onto a single customer credential. Customers in Guinea-Bissau 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. The PATN kiosk-card clearinghouse (Tempest's TITAN kiOSK, incorporated 2000) extended the same card-and-PIN model to public Internet terminals but did not reach scale.
Both Iridium (global LEO) and Thuraya (regional GEO) satellite voice were available in Guinea-Bissau from approximately 2001, alongside global BGAN data from late 2005.
Nearby countries in Africa
Gabon · Gambia · Ghana · Guinea · Ivory Coast · Kenya · Lesotho · Liberia