Research and Markets: East Timor (Timor Leste)

Timor Leste (formerly known as East Timor) is continuing in its struggle to simply maintain integrity as a nation. In fact it is widely considered to have gone backwards in the last few years, with the 2009 Index of Failed States ranking Timor Leste in the critical category, one of 20 such countries in the world. In an effort to lift itself out of this parlous state, Timor Leste has been pressing ahead with the regeneration of its economy and rebuilding of its infrastructure. The effort to roll out telecommunications infrastructure in particular has been a key part of this. Despite the considerable energy that has been going into this rebuilding, the prevailing social and political environment continues to present major challenges to those seeking to improve the country. Political instability and the civil unrest that erupted in Timor Leste in April/May 2006 continued into the first half of 2007. Despite the election of a new government led by Nobel (News - Alert) Peace Laureate Jose Ramos-Horta in May/June 2007, opposition to the administration caused further violence and looting.

The meantime

In the meantime, throughout this most difficult of political periods, the countrys telecommunications sector has been expanding with the mobile telephone sector experiencing a particularly strong and sustained surge. After recording over 50% growth in 2006; another 50% in 2007, and 66% in 2008, mobile subscriber numbers jumped more than 110% in 2009, resulting in mobile penetration reaching the significant 30% milestone by the start of 2010. Fixed-line network expansion was still languishing coming into 2010, however, with fixed teledensity down around 0.2%. Although it was difficult to get accurate figures on the Internet market, it was clear that growth in this sector remained highly constricted and there was little optimism about online activity in Timor Leste in the short term.