Telecommunications in Bolivia includes radio, television, fixed and mobile telephones, and the Internet.

Radio and television

* Radio broadcast stations: AM 171, FM 73, shortwave 77 (1999). * Television broadcast stations: 48 (1997). * Bolivia has a large number of radio and TV stations broadcasting with private media outlets dominating. There has been a recent, rapid growth of state-owned media, including a network of community radios. State-owned and private radio and TV stations generally operate freely, although both pro-government and anti-government groups have attacked media outlets in response to their reporting (2010).

Telephones

International calling code Country calling codes or country dial-in codes are telephone number prefixes for reaching telephone subscribers in the networks of the member countries or regions of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU). The codes are defined by the ...

: 591."Communications: Bolivia"
''World Factbook'', U.S. Central Intelligence Agency, 21 April 2015. * Fixed lines: 880,600 lines in use, 80th in the world (2012). * Mobile cellular: 9.494 million telephones, 82nd in the world (2012). * Satellite earth stations: 1

Intelsat Intelsat S.A. (formerly INTEL-SAT, INTELSAT, Intelsat) is a multinational satellite services provider with corporate headquarters in Luxembourg and administrative headquarters in Tysons Corner, Virginia, United States. Originally formed as In ...

(Atlantic Ocean) (2011). The Bolivian National Telecommunications Company was privatized in 1995 but re-nationalized in 2007; the primary trunk system is being expanded and employs digital

microwave radio relay Microwave transmission is the transmission of information by electromagnetic waves with wavelengths in the microwave frequency range of 300MHz to 300GHz(1 m - 1 mm wavelength) of the electromagnetic spectrum. Microwave signals are normally lim ...

; some areas are served by fiber-optic cable; system operations, reliability, and coverage have steadily improved. Most telephones are concentrated in

La Paz La Paz (), officially known as Nuestra Señora de La Paz (Spanish pronunciation: ), is the seat of government of the Bolivia, Plurinational State of Bolivia. With an estimated 816,044 residents as of 2020, La Paz is the List of Bolivian cities ...

, Santa Cruz, and other capital cities; mobile-cellular telephone use expanding rapidly and, in 2011, teledensity reached about 80 per 100 persons.

Internet

Internet hosts A network host is a computer or other device connected to a computer network. A host may work as a Server (computing), server offering information resources, services, and applications to users or other hosts on the network. Hosts are assigned at ...

: 180,988 hosts, 75th in the world (2012). *

Internet users The Internet (or internet) is the global system of interconnected computer networks that uses the Internet protocol suite (TCP/IP) to communicate between networks and devices. It is a '' network of networks'' that consists of private, pub ...

: 3.5 million users, 75th in the world; 34% of the population, 125th in the world (2012)."Percentage of Individuals using the Internet 2000-2012"
International Telecommunication Union (Geneva), June 2013, retrieved 22 June 2013 *

Fixed access Fixed access: In personal communications service (PCS), terminal access to a network in which there is a set relationship between a terminal and the access interface Interface or interfacing may refer to: Academic journals * ''Interface'' ...

: 111,029 subscriptions, 99th in the world; 1.1% of population, 139th in the world (2014).Statistics

International Telecommunication Union The International Telecommunication Union is a specialized agency of the United Nations responsible for many matters related to information and communication technologies. It was established on 17 May 1865 as the International Telegraph Unio ...

official website. *

Mobile access Telecommunication is the transmission of information by various types of technologies over wire, radio, optical, or other electromagnetic systems. It has its origin in the desire of humans for communication over a distance greater than that fe ...

: 690,768 subscriptions, 83rd in the world; 6.7% of the population, 101st in the world (2014). * Average connection speed: 1.1 Mbit/s, 54th in the world (2014). * IPv4 addresses: 561,920 (2012)."Allocation of IP addresses by Country"
Country IP Blocks. Accessed on 2 April 2012. Note: Site is said to be updated daily. *

Top-level domain A top-level domain (TLD) is one of the domains at the highest level in the hierarchical Domain Name System of the Internet after the root domain. The top-level domain names are installed in the root zone of the name space. For all domains in ...

: .bo.

Internet censorship and surveillance

There are no government restrictions on access to the Internet. The

Bolivian constitution The current Constitution of Bolivia ( es, Constitución Política del Estado; literally, the ''Political Constitution of the State'') came into effect on 7 February 2009 when it was promulgated by President Evo Morales, after being approved in a ...

and law provide for

freedom of speech Freedom of speech is a principle that supports the freedom of an individual or a community to articulate their opinions and ideas without fear of retaliation, censorship, or legal sanction. The right to freedom of expression has been recogni ...

and

press Press may refer to: Media * Print media or news media, commonly called "the press" * Printing press, commonly called "the press" * Press (newspaper), a list of newspapers * Press TV, an Iranian television network People * Press (surname), a fam ...

. Although the government generally respects these rights, in at least two cases in 2012, the government used the anti-racism law to restrict both rights. Some senior government officials also verbally harassed members of the press corps. Bolivian law prohibits arbitrary interference with privacy, family, home, or correspondence and the government generally respects these prohibitions, but there have been allegations that the government does not always respect the law. Defamation remains a criminal offence. * Concerns were raised over a 2010 anti-discrimination law. Its "far-reaching and vague" language could be used to curb and punish legitimate journalism, warned the

Committee to Protect Journalists The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is an American independent non-profit, non-governmental organization, based in New York City, New York, with correspondents around the world. CPJ promotes press freedom and defends the rights of journa ...

."Bolivia country profile: Media"
''BBC News, 2 August 2012. * On 21 October 2012, Vice President Garcia Linera stated that the government records the names of people who insult President Morales on

social media Social media are interactive media technologies that facilitate the creation and sharing of information, ideas, interests, and other forms of expression through virtual communities and networks. While challenges to the definition of ''social medi ...

sites."Bolivia"
''Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for 2012'', Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor, U.S. Department of State, 20 March 2013. Retrieved 2 January 2014. * On 23 October 2012, the

Constitutional Court A constitutional court is a high court that deals primarily with constitutional law. Its main authority is to rule on whether laws that are challenged are in fact unconstitutional, i.e. whether they conflict with constitutionally established ...

struck down the

libel Defamation is the act of communicating to a third party false statements about a person, place or thing that results in damage to its reputation. It can be spoken (slander) or written (libel). It constitutes a tort or a crime. The legal defini ...

law that allowed for detention of one month to four years for a person found guilty of insulting, defaming, or slandering public officials. * On 2016, after the

Constitutional Referendum A referendum (plural: referendums or less commonly referenda) is a direct vote by the electorate on a proposal, law, or political issue. This is in contrast to an issue being voted on by a representative. This may result in the adoption of a ...

, the government considered the win of the option of NO a "dirty game" but it avoid endangering his government decided to cancel a bill to restrict social networks when insulting

President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) *President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ful ...

Evo Morales Juan Evo Morales Ayma (; born 26 October 1959) is a Bolivian politician, trade union organizer, and former cocalero activist who served as the 65th president of Bolivia from 2006 to 2019. Widely regarded as the country's first president to co ...

and his acts of corruption (like the Gabriela Zapata's case). But a law is going to be launched in April or May 2016.

References

* *

External links

Agency for the Development of the Information Society
(ADSIB)
NIC Bolivia
registrar for the .bo top-level domain. {{Internet censorship by country