Lesotho
Power & telecom standards in Lesotho
Connectivity Overview
Tempest Telecom offered satellite-only service in Lesotho. Iridium satellite Internet and Voice access was available for communications in rural areas without infrastructure.
Lesotho uses 220V at 50Hz. Power outlets are type M and telephone jacks are RJ-11.
Dial-up Internet Access
Dial-up access was not available in Lesotho. Satellite Internet was the recommended alternative.
WiFi Hotspot Access
WiFi hotspot access was not available through Tempest in Lesotho.
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.
Lesotho at a Glance
- Capital
- Maseru
- Phone Code
- +266
- Voltage
- 220V / 50Hz
- Power Plug
- M
- Phone Jack
- RJ-11
- Currency
- Loti
- Dial-up
- N/A
- WiFi
- N/A
About connectivity in Lesotho
Lesotho uses 220V/50Hz with the South African Type M plug plus Type C — reflecting the country's position as a landlocked enclave entirely surrounded by South Africa. The phone jack is RJ-11. Vodacom Lesotho and Econet Telecom Lesotho operate the country's telecom infrastructure.
Lesotho commercial Internet emerged in the late 1990s. The country's integration with South African telecom infrastructure shapes most connectivity patterns. Mobile data dominates current access.
The Lesotho prepaid international calling-card market through the 2000s served the substantial Basotho outbound labor migration to South Africa (the historic gold-and-platinum-mine workforce; remittances are a significant GDP component).
Tempest Telecom served Lesotho through dial-up POPs in Maseru. The Highland water-export sector, the textile-manufacturing sector, and the modest mountain-tourism operators sustained Iridium demand.
Modern Lesotho has expanding 4G LTE coverage with FTTH concentrated in Maseru.
Tempest's services across Lesotho, 1997–2012
Tempest Telecommunications operated international connectivity services in Lesotho between 1997 and 2012 under a unified prepaid account that absorbed multiple service types onto a single customer credential. Customers in Lesotho 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 Lesotho from approximately 2001, alongside global BGAN data from late 2005.
Nearby countries in Africa
Guinea · Guinea-Bissau · Ivory Coast · Kenya · Liberia · Libya · Madagascar · Malawi