PORT LOUIS, July 22 (Reuters) - The telecoms sector in war-torn Somalia is surging even though the Horn of Africa country has had no government for the past 13 years, a senior industry official said on Thursday.
Somalia descended into anarchy when dictator Mohammed Siad Barre was toppled in 1991, leaving it without central government. It is split between two self-declared enclaves in the north and a patchwork of quarrelling fiefdoms in the south.
"When there was a government from 1960 to 1991, Somalia had about 17,000 fixed lines," said Abdigani Jama, secretary-general of the Dubai-based Somali Telecom Association, set up by the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) and United Nations.
"Somalia now has about 112,000 fixed lines as well as about 50,000 mobile subscribers," Jama told Reuters in an telephone interview from Dubai.
The telecoms industry emerged when local entrepreneurs, educated in the west, returned home and tapped into the market when they realised its potential, Jama said.
"It started with about 11 operators but this has now shrunk to eight major operators and we expect it to shrink further to about five or six," he said, adding that many small companies had either merged or were bought out by larger players.
Local operators had invested about $68 million since 1991, setting up fixed lines in all 18 regions of the country, despite it being divided and under the control of powerful warlords.
Jama attributed the boost in Somalia's telecoms sector to the absence of government red tape as well as Somalis' natural entrepreneurial spirit, but said a central government was necessary if the sector was to develop further.
"We need a government to regulate and provide necessary legislation as well as ensure security and peace which would attract much-needed foreign investment to the sector," he said.
The Somali telecoms industry has no foreign players due to instability and routine clashes between warlords. It also lacks human resources as many qualified engineers have fled the country due to the conflict.
But a lack of government had not prevented operators from different fiefdoms working together to reach remote areas of the country and provide a service to its 10 million people.
"Telecommunications is the backbone of everything -- trade, investment, health and education -- and the development of this industry and has helped ordinary Somalis," he said.
((Reporting by Nita Bhalla, editing by Quentin Bryar))