Development Seed Blog
Cell Phone Penetration in Haiti
The other day Development Seed gave several old cell phones to Matt at Haiti Innovation
to take down to Haiti to give away since handsets are quite expensive there. And apparently cell phones are not only very popular in Haiti, but they're common too. I found this very surprising. Since my last post on Haiti, I've been looking into the cell phone penetration of the country and everything I've seen has put it very low. The largest numbers I've seen are that 4.7 percent of the population has a cell phone, according to the Institute for Connectivity in the Americas. To give some perspective, in the Dominican Republic, Haiti's island neighbor, 28 percent of the populuation has a cell phone.
Five percent of the population is far from common. I expect that tracking statistics in Haiti these days with safety concerns and the tumultuous political situation is very difficult which leads to underestimated figures. But I bet that cell phone providers have more up-to-date figures. Particularly Digicel who with Ericsson is setting up Haiti's GSM network. I'll try to track down some more accurate statistics on cell phone penetration, and if you know of any sources or have any first hand experience, pass it on.
If Haiti does have greater cell phone penetration, it speaks to their importance. Currently 80 percent of the population is living in poverty with two-thirds are without formal jobs.
Comments
Wholesale Cell phones
I can get wholesale phones both CDMA and GSM quad-band for export to Haiti for a low as $1.80 per unit plus shipping and handling. I sell in bulk only and the order must be for at least 100 units. Does anyone know of a distributor who would be interested?
That's a great deal
That's a great deal. We know several people on the ground in Haiti who may be able to help. If you send your contact information to info [at] developmentseed [dot] org, we'd be happy to see if we can help you get affordable phones out to people in Haiti.
Cell Phones in Haiti
The site your referring to is Haitel online which is one of the 3 co.
currently doing cell phones in haiti. However I wouldn't promote it as the
site that tells you what phones to bring to haiti. In fact Digicel is the
leader in the country to country cell phones right now. I had a visitor last
week that showed up with a new phone from the states not the Razor but the
Razor's competitor and the phone worked instantly on Digicel's network.
Things are moving fast in regards to cell phones and connections. I hope to
be on board soon enough so as not to keep switching back and forth when
traveling to the US.
taking cell phones to haiti
Hello I am not sure if i am asking this in the correct place- but i would like to take some cell phones down to friends in haiti- what brand would work or is there anything i have to keep away from? i keep hearing about unlocked and 850 900 1800 1900 does that mean i need them all or just one? sorry i am very uneducated on all the cell phone lingo and would really appreciate any help~ casey
CDMA and GSM dual sim quad-band Phone
I seargh phone with possibility to operate on the the three Phone Companies in Haiti :
1- HAITEL................CDMA
2- VOILA(comcel).........GSM 850/1900
3- DIGICEL...............GSM 900/1800
A mobil phone that can keep stanby for receive calls on any of three numbers.
A mobil phone that can hold a call and answer other ringing calls on the two other mumbers.
Either: operating on three(3):HAITEL,VOILA et DIGICEL
OR: operating on two (2) :VOILA et DIGICEL
From understanding of your
From understanding of your last response; a triband (900/1800/1900) phone would not be compatible with the voila/comcell network since it uses 850mhz.
One would need to seek a quad band for voi;a network???
Please reply with answer... Anticipated thanks and regards
The two cell phone companies
The two cell phone companies that support GSM are Digicel & Comcel. Digicel uses the 1800 frequency and Comcel uses 850.
Digicel offers far better service & quality & it is still investing a lot of money to meet the challenges faced by all the Phone Companies in Haiti. Digicel has better coverage too. The other company (Haitel) uses CDMA phones, not GSM.
Hope that helps!
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