[ALAC] Currency and SIM cards in Senegal

[Evan Leibovitch]

Hi there.

For anyone travelling to the ICANN meeting in Dakar next week.

The currency in Senegal is the  *Communaute Financiere Africaine
franc (XOF), *also used in Togo, Mali and other francophone African
countries
Based on the tools I have available, as of today,
*$1 = 473F*
*€1 = 656F*
*£1 = 747F*

Here is information on getting mobile:

Those of you who have an unlocked mobile phone will probably find that
buying a prepaid SIM card for the week will be far less expensive than
roaming costs using your usual carrier(*). Based on this page from
Orange<http://www.orange.sn/djoumtouwayyatu,2,37,ay,e172125ff9ab2c5>(in
French), the rates are, from what I can gather:


SIM card: 2 000F ($4.23)  comes loaded with 2 000F credit

Per minute domestic: 85F ($0.18)
Per minute domestic night (00:00-06:00): 50F ($0.11)
Per minute international: 170F ($0.36)

SMS domestic: 30F ($0.06)
SMS international: 100F ($0.21)

(*) My Canadian telco would charge me $3.00 per minute or $0.75 per SMS for
Senegal

You can also buy an unlocked phone
there<http://www.orange.sn/djoumtouwayyatu,2,1720,ay,e172125ff9ab2c5>for
as little as 12 900F ($27.30).

I hope this is helpful. Feel free to pass it to anyone travelling.

- Evan