Telecommunications in Sudan

Telecommunications began in Sudan in 1859, using wired communications in Swakin town on the Red Sea coast, eastern Sudan; it was there that Britain established a line to link the Sudan to its other colonized countries in Central and Northern Africa and as far as India. In 1866, telegraph lines were set up linking Egypt and Sudan during the Turkish rule which were expanded to more than 3,000 miles.

The first land telephones were installed in 1897 coinciding with the establishment of the Sudan Railway Corporation network. However, there was a further rapid growth when wireless telephones were introduced in 1919 and telephone centers were established in different Sudanese towns.

In 1927, Khartoum’s telephone centers had a capacity of 600 lines. Later in the same year, telephone networks in the South of Sudan were also established. However, it was not until 1948 that a main trunk line was established between Khartoum and Cairo. Following which there was an expansion linking international trunk communications with the USA and Switzerland in the same year.

From the period 1956 – 1964, a number of isolated automatic call centers were established in remote areas. Gradually, the general telephone network was distributed into many Sudanese towns until the modernization of the Khartoum network took place in 1970 and opened up the way for the introduction of the microwave network connecting many Sudanese towns and making direct communication possible whilst providing a better and improved service for the broadcasting of the television and radio stations.

In 1974, satellite stations were installed in Um Harass and at that time the telecommunication’s traffic was managed by the General Post Office but was later transferred to the Wire and Wireless Corporation in 1970 recognized as the national body for wire and wireless telecommunication in 1987.