Brunei Phones and Technology
Despite strict regulations on the media in Brunei visitors have excellent access to international news. Mobile phone coverage is good, meaning you can keep in touch with ease even when traveling off the beaten track. Most hotels are fitted with satellite television.
Telphone
Brunei’s telecommunication network is among the best in Southeast Asia. There are both fixed land lines and satellite stations to provide worldwide IDD, fax and telex links. All hotels in the country are equipped with these facilities. Public telephones can be found at post offices and large shopping areas, offering both coin and phone card service.
Brunei has had a telephone service, albeit basic, since the 1930s, yet today it has one of the most advanced in the region with a hard line density of 25 percent. There are coin and card operated public telephones in towns and cities and telephone cards are available from post offices and shops. Brunei is fairly well wired, with around 80,000 phone lines throughout the country. This sounds small for an entire country, although Brunei only has around 300,000 to 400,000 people. Telephone service throughout Brunei is generally excellent and international service from landlines to the US, Europe, and the rest of Asia is reliable.
Mobile phone service in Brunei is even more extensive with GSM 900, 3G, and GPRS services all available. SIM cards can be had relatively cheaply and international roaming can be activated with major mobile operators. Brunei now has many more mobile phone users than landline users. There are something like 350,000 registered mobile phones in comparison to about 80,000 landlines. The coverage is good, especially in around the capital Bandar Seri Begawan in the northwest. International roaming in Brunei is possible with many of the larger phone companies.
Hallokad telephone cards can be purchased at Telecom offices in every town and at most retailers. Brunei’s country code is: 673. The country has roaming agreements with several international mobile phone companies, offering decent coverage around the main cities, especially in the northwest region.
Mobile phone: Brunei is popular with mobile phone users owing to pay as you go SIMs and new systems like GPRS. There is good coverage around the country, in particular in the major cities and especially in the northwest around Bandar Seri Begawan. There are roaming agreements with some of the major international mobile phone companies, while GPRS services have also been implemented.
GPRS / EDGE: Brunei is supplied by GPRS Mobile Phone Service for GSM mobile phones initially at 2.5G, although more people are now subscribing to 3G Mobile services. Brunei is constantly evolving in the cyber world and likely to embrace future upgrades and systems, such as the New Generation Network.
Placing international calls : To place an international call from Brunei, you need to first prefix with 00. So to call the USA you would first dial 00, then 1 (US international code) and then the rest of the number. When calling the UK, you dial the 00 and then 44 (UK international code) and then the rest of the number, but dropping any 0 off the area code.
When calling home from a mobile phone when using international roaming, the 00 is not needed. Instead is should be replaced for the ‘+’ sign. So to call the USA you would dial +1 and the UK +44.
Calling home from Brunei: Many hotels don’t offer international direct dialing in Brunei, so you first need to dial the number to get about – usually 0, 1, or 9 – followed by the outgoing code 00, the country code of your home country (the US is 1), and then the standard area code and number. The entire string from a hotel room to the USA would look something like this: 1 00 1 234 567 890. Calling home from a cell phone from Brunei simply requires a ‘+’ before the country code.
How to save money: The biggest money drain on calling in Brunei is from a hotel room, especially for overseas calls. The best option is via Skype (VoIP program) in an internet café, where you can call free from computer to computer, while charges to landlines and mobile phones are cheap. The prepaid Hallo Kad is good for local and international calls from any phone in the country.
Calling within Brunei: Coin operated phones can be found all over towns and cities and are the cheapest option for calling within Brunei. It is, however, more convenient to use prepaid phone cards, which can be bought from shops, restaurants, and hotels. Rates fluctuate depending on the time of day, with mornings being the most expensive time and lower rates in the evenings, and particularly on Sunday nights.
Calling to Brunei: Calling Brunei is generally the same as calling elsewhere in the world, with the exception that Brunei does not have specific area codes. When calling Brunei from the US, enter the international dialing prefix of 011, then the Brunei country code (673), and then the seven-digit number. Although there are no actual local codes, the first digit represents the area. For example, Bandar Seri Begawan numbers start with 2.
Pay phones: Pay phones are ubiquitous in Brunei, are coin operated and can call overseas direct. If you don’t have a mobile phone and local SIM card, relying on pay phones is okay as prepaid phone cards are available at hotels, restaurants, and shops. Hallo Kad cards are the most popular and can call local or international.
International calling cards: The prepaid Hallo Kad is provided by TelBru and is the most popular calling card in Brunei. It is available in different denominations and can be used from any phone for making domestic and overseas calls. There are also cards available for use in public phones exclusively and are of the magnetic strip type for swiping, while international calling cards that come with a PIN and toll-free access can also be had.
Networks / operators: There are just two mobile networks in Brunei: GSM 900 and 3G 2100. B-Mobile Communications Sdn Bhd runs the 3G 2100 network, while DataStream Technology (DTSCom) runs GSM 900. The latter (GSM 900) is only good for 2G.
Getting a local SIM card: If you want to make use of a local SIM card in your mobile, it will have to be of the GSM variety and be unlocked. Mobile phones are traditionally locked for use with one SIM package at the time of purchase, meaning if you slip in another SIM card it won’t work. Most modern mobile phones can be unlocked in Brunei’s many phone centers for a small fee. You will then be able to use a local SIM card on a prepaid package.
International roaming: Many of the major international mobile phone companies offer roaming agreements for those with existing SIM cards. If yours does, be aware that international roaming is generally very expensive and you often pay to receive, as well as to make, calls. If you cannot have international roaming switched on, consider having your mobile phone unlocked and buying a local SIM card.
Time difference: The time zone for Brunei GMT +8 hours. It is 13 hours ahead of the US east coast, 16 hours ahead of the Pacific coast and eight hours ahead of London. There is no daylight saving time in Brunei.
Post
For visitor’s convenience, most hotels provide full postal services at their front desk. Every town has a post office which opens from 07:45 to 16:30 everyday except Friday and Sunday. Operating hours on Fridays run from 08:00 to 11:00, and 14:00 to 16:00 to accommodate Friday prayers. Express postal service, known as Speedpost, is available.
Internet
Internet cafés are quite popular in the capital Bandar Seri Begawan, and relatively cheap to use. Brunei’s internet server is called BruNet, and runs via fiber optic cables linked with Singapore. This allows for reliable, fast international network connections. A wireless network is in the process of being implemented, starting in the Rimba-Gadong region.
Availability: Broadband internet access is available in all main towns throughout Brunei as well as in most tourist hotels. There are also numerous internet cafés in towns and cities, with the internet being one of the main forms of socializing among young Bruneians. Although speeds are lagging behind the likes of Singapore and South Korea, connectivity is generally 24/7.
Costs: Being monopolized by company TelBru, internet connectivity in the home is relatively expensive. Speeds are constantly in a state of flux. Prices in internet cafés are relatively expensive.
Internet cafés: In a country where there are no bars or nightclubs as such, internet cafés are the main source of fun for many Bruneians. They are everywhere in the main towns and cities and people come out to socialize in them, as well as to surf the net and check email. There are more internet cafés in the capital Bandar Seri Begawan than anywhere else in the country, both in the malls and out on the street.
WiFi: There are no WiFi hotspots on the streets in Brunei like you would find in Singapore, although many of the larger hotels have networks set up so that you can sign on via a laptop in your room. These are the top hotels in Bandar Seri Begawan which have a pay-per-hour system where you login online.
Precautions: There is supposedly no restriction in place on the internet in Brunei, although getting involved in negative discussions on politics, religion, and the sultanate on blogs and forums while in the country is not advised. Criticizing the sultan in any way is against the law in Brunei and carries with it jail time.
Media
Brunei’s media is neither open nor free. Although the press is privately-owned by the sultan’s family, it is heavily controlled on political and religious matters. In addition, radio and television are run by government-controlled Radio Television Brunei and there is a law on printing or broadcasting ‘false news’. The internet is supposedly unrestricted, however, while English language programs come in via cable network.
TV: the state controls the TV through Radio Television Brunei. It is the only public broadcaster and has local and imported programs. There is no freedom though, with news consisting of often trivial matters and no criticism of the government. English programs are available through satellite and cable, with 14 channels ranging from BBC World to movie and music channels.
Newspapers: there are four newspapers in Brunei including: Pelita Brunei, a free Malay paper that comes out twice weekly; Media Permata, a Malay-only daily paper; the Borneo Bulletin, which is the only independent English-language newspaper; and the Brunei Times, a daily English-language broadsheet. Political and religious matters are heavily censored by reporters and editors. Foreign newspapers include Malaysia’s Borneo Post and New Straits Times, the Straits Times from Singapore, as well as the International Herald Tribune.
Radio: the state-controlled Radio Television Brunei (RTB) is the umbrella organization for the radio in Brunei, which is broadcast in Malay, English, Chinese (Mandarin), and Gurkhali – FM 10. Satellite also allows for solely English-language stations, which also receive several worthwhile television channels.