Suriname
Power & telecom standards in Suriname
Connectivity Overview
Tempest Telecom offered satellite-only service in Suriname. Iridium satellite Internet and Voice access was available for communications in rural areas without infrastructure.
Suriname uses 127V at 60Hz. Power outlets are type A, B, C, F and telephone jacks are RJ-11.
Dial-up Internet Access
Dial-up access was not available in Suriname. Satellite Internet was the recommended alternative.
WiFi Hotspot Access
WiFi hotspot access was not available through Tempest in Suriname.
Adapters & Power
North American (Type A/B) plugs are compatible. An adapter may not be needed for US travelers.
Standard RJ-11 jacks are used. Most international modems will connect without an adapter.
Suriname at a Glance
- Capital
- Paramaribo
- Phone Code
- +597
- Voltage
- 127V / 60Hz
- Power Plug
- A, B, C, F
- Phone Jack
- RJ-11
- Currency
- SRD
- Dial-up
- N/A
- WiFi
- N/A
About connectivity in Suriname
Suriname uses 127V/60Hz with Type A, Type B, Type C, and Type F outlets — an unusual four-type mix reflecting layered Dutch colonial-era and modern installations. The phone jack is RJ-11. Telesur (state) and Digicel Suriname operate the country's telecom infrastructure.
Surinamese commercial Internet emerged in the late 1990s. Mobile data dominates current Internet access.
The Surinamese prepaid international calling-card market through the 2000s served the substantial Surinamese outbound diaspora — concentrated in the Netherlands (the colonial-era diaspora; Suriname was a Dutch colony until 1975, and the Surinamese-Dutch community is among the largest South American populations in Europe). The country's multi-ethnic demographic structure (Indo-Surinamese, Javanese-Surinamese, Maroon, and Creole populations) sustained calling brands targeting multiple destination corridors.
Tempest Telecom served Suriname through dial-up POPs in Paramaribo. The bauxite-mining sector, the gold-mining sector, the Amazonian rainforest expedition customer base, and the Caribbean coast maritime industry sustained Iridium demand.
Modern Suriname has expanding 4G LTE coverage with FTTH concentrated in Paramaribo.
Tempest's services across Suriname, 1997–2012
Tempest Telecommunications operated international connectivity services in Suriname between 1997 and 2012 under a unified prepaid account that absorbed multiple service types onto a single customer credential. Customers in Suriname 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 Suriname from approximately 2001 (post-bankruptcy relaunch). Thuraya coverage did not extend to Suriname; Inmarsat BGAN data terminals filled the broadband gap from late 2005.
Nearby countries in Americas
Panama · Paraguay · Peru · Puerto Rico · Trinidad and Tobago · Turks and Caicos Islands · United States · Uruguay