Telecommunication in Africa and the Middle East
The statistics provided on this page have been created with the most current information available as of July 2004. Click on the following links for Chart 2 and assessments of the telecommunications infrastructure for the selected countries. Refer to the bibliography page for a complete list of references, years used for the recorded statistics and an explanation of the symbols used to distinguish category sources.
Chart 1: |
Personal Computers+ | Internet Users* | Internet Hosts* | Internet Service Providers# | ISDN Subscribers* |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Egypt | 1,000,000 |
939,300 |
2,686 |
50 |
N/A |
| Iran | 4,500,000 |
3,158,000 |
2,826 |
8 |
N/A |
| Israel | 1,600,000 |
2,889,100 |
206,219 |
21 |
61,090 |
| Kenya | 175,000 |
965,100 |
2,835 |
65 |
N/A |
| Morocco | 400,000 |
1,105,100 |
3,332 |
8 |
11,836 |
| Saudi Arabia | 1,400,000 |
490,700 |
15,677 |
42 |
N/A |
| South Africa | 3,100,000 |
5,372,400 |
270,588 |
150 |
26,317 |
| U.A.E. | 420,000 |
1,568, 000 |
86,440 |
1 |
25,089 |
| Zimbabwe | 165,000 |
127,200 |
3,936 |
6 |
N/A |
Chart 2: |
Telephone Lines in Use* |
Mobile Telephone Users* | Television Receivers+ | Capital Investment in Telecommunications $US Millions* |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Egypt |
6,836,000 |
5,801,500 |
12,000,000 |
532.4 |
Iran |
12,021,000 |
3,211,400 |
10,400,000 |
30.5 |
Israel |
3,187,000 |
6,110,600 |
2,100,000 |
283.7 |
Kenya |
357,000 |
780,200 |
786,000 |
51.0 |
Morocco |
1,303,000 |
7,370,500 |
4,700,000 |
203.5 |
Saudi Arabia |
3,466,000 |
3,777,600 |
5,700,000 |
1,382.8 |
South Africa |
5,183,000 |
13,953,800 |
7,589,000 |
883.5 |
U.A.E |
1,159,000 |
2,430,200 |
760,000 |
553.3 |
Zimbabwe |
274,000 |
370,200 |
410,000 |
95.2 |
CIA Analysis of Telecommunications Infrastructure:
Source: CIA World Factbook
Egypt:
General Assessment: large system; underwent extensive upgrading during 1990s and is reasonably modern; Internet access and cellular service are available.
Domestic: principal centers at Alexandria, Cairo, Al Mansurah, Ismailia, Suez, and Tanta are connected by coaxial cable and microwave radio relay.
International: country code - 20; satellite earth stations - 2 Intelsat (Atlantic Ocean and Indian Ocean), 1 Arabsat, and 1 Inmarsat; 5 coaxial submarine cables; tropospheric scatter to Sudan; microwave radio relay to Israel; a participant in Medarabtel and a signatory to Project Oxygen (a global submarine fiber-optic cable system).
Internet Country Code: .egIran:
General Assessment: inadequate but currently being modernized and expanded with the goal of not only improving the efficiency and increasing the volume of the urban service but also bringing telephone service to several thousand villages, not presently connected.
Domestic: as a result of heavy investing in the telephone system since 1994, the number of long-distance channels in the microwave radio relay trunk has grown substantially; many villages have been brought into the net; the number of main lines in the urban systems has approximately doubled; and thousands of mobile cellular subscribers are being served; moreover, the technical level of the system has been raised by the installation of thousands of digital switches.
International: country code - 98; HF radio and microwave radio relay to Turkey, Azerbaijan, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Turkmenistan, Syria, Kuwait, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan; submarine fiber-optic cable to UAE with access to Fiber-Optic Link Around the Globe (FLAG); Trans-Asia-Europe (TAE) fiber-optic line runs from Azerbaijan through the northern portion of Iran to Turkmenistan with expansion to Georgia and Azerbaijan; satellite earth stations - 9 Intelsat and 4 Inmarsat.
Internet Country Code: .irIsrael:
General Assessment: most highly developed system in the Middle East although not the largest.
Domestic: good system of coaxial cable and microwave radio relay; all systems are digital.
International: country code - 972; 3 submarine cables; satellite earth stations - 3 Intelsat (2 Atlantic Ocean and 1 Indian Ocean).
Internet Country Code: .ilKenya:
General Assessment: unreliable; little attempt to modernize except for service to business.
Domestic: trunks are primarily microwave radio relay; business data commonly transferred by a very small aperture terminal (VSAT) system.
International: country code - 254; satellite earth stations - 4 Intelsat.
Internet Country Code: .keMorocco:
General Assessment: modern system with all important capabilities; however, density is low with only 4.6 main lines available for each 100 persons.
Domestic: good system composed of open-wire lines, cables, and microwave radio relay links; Internet available but expensive; principal switching centers are Casablanca and Rabat; national network nearly 100% digital using fiber-optic links; improved rural service employs microwave radio relay.
International: country code - 212; 7 submarine cables; satellite earth stations - 2 Intelsat (Atlantic Ocean) and 1 Arabsat; microwave radio relay to Gibraltar, Spain, and Western Sahara; coaxial cable and microwave radio relay to Algeria; participant in Medarabtel; fiber-optic cable link from Agadir to Algeria and Tunisia (1998).
Internet Country Code: .maSaudi Arabia:
General Assessment: modern system.
Domestic: extensive microwave radio relay, coaxial cable, and fiber-optic cable systems.
International: country code - 966; microwave radio relay to Bahrain, Jordan, Kuwait, Qatar, UAE, Yemen, and Sudan; coaxial cable to Kuwait and Jordan; submarine cable to Djibouti, Egypt and Bahrain; satellite earth stations - 5 Intelsat (3 Atlantic Ocean and 2 Indian Ocean), 1 Arabsat, and 1 Inmarsat (Indian Ocean region).
Internet Country Code: .saSouth Africa:
General Assessment: the system is the best developed and most modern in Africa.
Domestic: consists of carrier-equipped open-wire lines, coaxial cables, microwave radio relay links, fiber-optic cable, radiotelephone communication stations, and wireless local loops; key centers are Bloemfontein, Cape Town, Durban, Johannesburg, Port Elizabeth, and Pretoria.
International: country code - 27; 2 submarine cables; satellite earth stations - 3 Intelsat (1 Indian Ocean and 2 Atlantic Ocean).
Internet Country Code: .zaU.A.E.:
General Assessment: modern system of microwave radio relay and coaxial cable; key centers are Abu Dhabi and Dubai.
Domestic: microwave radio relay and coaxial cable.
International: country code - 971; satellite earth stations - 3 Intelsat (1 Atlantic Ocean and 2 Indian Ocean) and 1 Arabsat; submarine cables to Qatar, Bahrain, India, and Pakistan; tropospheric scatter to Bahrain; microwave radio relay to Saudi Arabia.
Internet Country Code: .aeZimbabwe:
General Assessment: system was once one of the best in Africa, but now suffers from poor maintenance; more than 100,000 outstanding requests for connection despite an equally large number of installed but unused main lines.
Domestic: consists of microwave radio relay links, open-wire lines, radiotelephone communication stations, fixed wireless local loop installations, and a substantial mobile cellular network; Internet connection is available in Harare and planned for all major towns and for some of the smaller ones.
International: country code - 263; satellite earth stations - 2 Intelsat; two international digital gateway exchanges (in Harare and Gweru).
Internet Country Code: .zw
Content: Greg Russell
gwruss@lamar.colostate.edu
Supervisor: Naomi Lederer