Telecommunications on Guadeloupe : Practical information

Practical information : Telecommunications in Guadeloupe

Telecommunications on Guadeloupe

Post Office. Letters or postcards must be stamped “Par avion”, and will take approximately three to five days to arrive. Stamps are hard to find elsewhere than at the post office, so be prepared to stand in line for quite a while. Mail is collected every day and leaves the island daily by plane. Postage dues are the same as on the mainland.

Telephone country code : 05 90

Telephone information : 12

Mobile phones in the West Indies . Cellphones work in most areas on the island with Orange and Bouygues coverage. The cellphone market is a real free-for-all business on the islands, and nobody really understands all bargains and good deals proposed by the operators. Your metropolitan phone bill is sure to rise to considerable heights if you don’t pay attention, as all calls are billed according to roaming tariffs. That is to say, your phone is likely to work on Guadeloupe (depending on your subscription, of course), but incoming calls will be billed just as outgoing ones. If you have difficulties getting by without your phone on holidays, the best and cheapest solution is to buy a mobile kit with a pre-paid card.

Landlines. Calls in the direction of Martinique must be preceded by 05 96, of Guadeloupe by 05 99 and of Guyana by 05 94 for landlines.

Mobile phones. Call 06 90 for Guadeloupe mobiles and 06 96 for Martinique cellphones.

To call Guadeloupe from abroad you must dial +590 5 90 + 6 digits of your correspondent’s number in case of a landline, and +590 6 90 + 6 digits in case of a mobile phone. To reach France from the West Indies, dial the number of your correspondent (10 digits). To reach another country from the West Indies, dial 00 + country code + number of your correspondent.

When calling abroad, a good option is to use public payphones, they are easy to find and phone cards are everywhere on the island, and street phones also function with credit cards.

Pre-paid cards. France Telecom monopoly is a thing of the past in Guadeloupe, and pre-paid cards are available from a multitude of different operators. Tariffs for overseas calls are a really good bargain in certain cases. Most well-known brands are: Ticket Alizé (France Télécom), Contact Télécom, Ecokard, Outremer Télécoms, la Carte Outremer…

Internet providers . Competition among Internet providers is not yet widespread in Guadeloupe, and the market is divided between France Telecom (www.wanadoo.fr) and its market challenger Outre-mer Online (OOL). ADSL is only just under development in urban areas, and tariffs are extremely high in comparison with the mainland.

WiFi systems are not more that science fiction on Guadeloupe, though you can find some rare posts in hotels or at the airport.