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
general assessment: modern system
domestic: extensive microwave radio relay, coaxial cable, 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 country code .sa

Internet Service Providers (ISPs) 42 (2001)

Internet users 570,000 (2001)

NOTE: The information regarding Saudi Arabia on this page is re-published from the 2002 World Fact Book of the United States Central Intelligence Agency. No claims are made regarding the accuracy of Saudi Arabia Communications 2002 information contained here. All suggestions for corrections of any errors about Saudi Arabia Communications 2002 should be addressed to the CIA.