Hargeysa, Somaliland , October 29, 2005 (SL Times) – Somaliland ’s five major telephone companies have introduced a new service enabling their customers to inter-connect.

The new service was formally inaugurated yesterday after a trial period of several days proved to be satisfactory.

Telesom, Telcom, Soltelco, STC and Somtel will charge USD 5 cents against iner-connection requests involving landline to landline or mobile to landline calls. A landline to mobile or mobile to mobile will cost 20 cents per call.

A 3 digit code has been assigned for each company line and customers will have to dial the respective code number plus the number of the other telephone company line they wish to call.

Telephone companies have come under attack in the past amid accusations that they conspired to unfairly control the prices of their services to subscribers. The government was equally criticized for saturating the sector by granting too many licenses.

In the meanwhile, Somaliland minister of Telecommunication, Hassan Abdi Khayre, disclosed last night that in few months time Somaliland will acquire an international dialing code of its own. The current code of 252 is used for both Somaliland and Somalia .

Mr. Khayre also revealed that the ministry itself will introduce a more global iner-connection service by December this year.