Big rush for first SMS News
service in Somaliland
Adnan Dahir Muhumed
University of Hargeisa –
Hargeisa
Somaliland people receive three times a day latest
breaking news of the world through their mobiles. This
service, the first of its kind in the country, is
being offered through short message services (sms) of
the mobile.
Telesom Company, a privately owned telecommunication
company started this new service early this year.
subscribers should register to receive news and other
information from Africa, and the rest of the world.
Stories are collected from BBC, Aljazeera, Africa and
sport.
Ali Bosir, head of Telesom research and development
department said: “We have anticipated that only 5000
will register to obtain this service, but within only
five months we have received over 30,000 subscriptions.”
This indicates how easy and effective people are
addictive to the new technology.
This new service is comprised of two services, ‘pull and
push services’. Pull service is uncharged, and the
subscriber can receive headlines up to three times a
day. For further details of the information, the
subscriber uses ‘push service’ and sends either bbc, jzr,
sport or Africa to the number ‘150’.
News sharing is very important to the development of the
society, and sms is effective way that news can be
distributed a mass population.
Telesom has biggest network of the country. And it has
up to 300,000 subscribers.
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