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| Saudi Arabia |
| Communications |
Telephones - main lines in use 3.1 million (1998)
Telephones - mobile cellular 1 million
note:in 1998, the government contracted for the installation of 575,000
additional Group Speciale Mobile (GSM) cellular telephone lines over 15 months
to raise the total number of subscribers to more than one million; Riyadh
planned to further expand the GSM system in 1999 by adding an additional one
million lines (1998)
Telephone system modern system
domestic:extensive microwave radio relay and coaxial and fiber-optic
cable systems
international: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)
Radio broadcast stations AM 43, FM 31, shortwave 2 (1998)
Radios 6.25 million (1997)
Television broadcast stations 117 (1997)
Televisions 5.1 million (1997)
Internet Service Providers (ISPs) 6 (1999)