Telecommunications in Iraq include radio, television, fixed and mobile telephones, and the Internet as well as the postal system.
Radio and television
The number of private radio and TV stations has increased rapidly since 2003.
[ Iraqis get much of their news from TV. Radio listening has declined in tandem with the rise of TV. For private media, advertising revenues seldom produce a reliable income.]["Iraq Profile: Media"]
''BBC News'', 22 August 2013. Retrieved 16 February 2014.
* Radio stations
Radio broadcasting is transmission of audio (sound), sometimes with related metadata, by radio waves to radio receivers belonging to a public audience. In terrestrial radio broadcasting the radio waves are broadcast by a land-based radio sta ...
:
** government-owned radio stations are operated by the publicly funded Iraqi Public Broadcasting Service; private broadcast media are mostly linked to political, ethnic, or religious groups; transmissions of multiple international radio broadcasters are available (2007);["Communications: Iraq"]
''World Factbook'', U.S. Central Intelligence Agency, 28 January 2014. Retrieved 16 February 2014.
** ~80 stations (2004).
* Television stations
A television station is a set of equipment managed by a business, organisation or other entity, such as an amateur television (ATV) operator, that transmits video content and audio content via radio waves directly from a transmitter on the ear ...
:
** government-owned TV stations are operated by the publicly funded Iraqi Public Broadcasting Service; private broadcast media are mostly linked to political, ethnic, or religious groups; satellite TV is available to an estimated 70% of viewers and many of the broadcasters are based abroad (2007);[
** ~21 stations (2004).
* ]Radios
Radio is the technology of signaling and communicating using radio waves. Radio waves are electromagnetic waves of frequency between 30 hertz (Hz) and 300 gigahertz (GHz). They are generated by an electronic device called a transmitt ...
: ~4.6 million (1997).
* Television set
A television set or television receiver, more commonly called the television, TV, TV set, telly, tele, or tube, is a device that combines a tuner, display, and loudspeakers, for the purpose of viewing and hearing television broadcasts, or using ...
s: ~1.8 million television sets (1997). It has been reported that 88% of households in Iraq have television (2004).
During the reign of Saddam Hussein
Saddam Hussein ( ; ar, صدام حسين, Ṣaddām Ḥusayn; 28 April 1937 – 30 December 2006) was an Iraqi politician who served as the fifth president of Iraq from 16 July 1979 until 9 April 2003. A leading member of the revolutio ...
, broadcasting was largely the domain of the Iraqi Broadcasting and Television Establishment (IBTE). The IBTE, in turn, was dominated by the Ministry of Information. The IBTE often broadcast programming favorable toward Saddam Hussein, including music videos praising him and poetry readings when the station was down. Most IBTE transmitters were in the Baghdad area with a few regional stations. The IBTE aired former CBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainm ...
reporter Dan Rather
Daniel Irvin Rather Jr. (; born October 31, 1931) is an American journalist, commentator, and former national evening news anchor. Rather began his career in Texas, becoming a national name after his reporting saved thousands of lives during Hur ...
's interview with Saddam Hussein, as well as the news from Baghdad Bob
Mohammed Saeed al-Sahhaf ( ar, محمد سعيد الصحاف '; born 30 July 1937) is an Iraqi former diplomat and politician. He served as
Minister of Foreign Affairs from 1992 to 2001. He came to worldwide prominence around the 2003 invasio ...
during the run up to the 2003 invasion of Iraq
The 2003 invasion of Iraq was a United States-led invasion of the Republic of Iraq and the first stage of the Iraq War. The invasion phase began on 19 March 2003 (air) and 20 March 2003 (ground) and lasted just over one month, including 26 ...
. After the overthrow of Saddam Hussein, the IBTE was dissolved.
The current regulator is the Iraqi Communications and Media Commission, and the public broadcaster is the Iraqi Media Network, successor to the Coalition Provisional Authority
)
, capital = Baghdad
, largest_city = capital
, common_languages = ArabicKurdish English (''de facto'')
, government_type = Transitional government
, legislature = Iraqi Governing Council
, title_leader = Administrator
, leader1 = Jay ...
's and several other radio and television stations. The Iraqi Media Network currently operates the Radio of the Republic of Iraq and the government supported al-Iraqiya
Al Iraqiya ( ar, العراقيّة, al-ʿIrāqiyyä) is a satellite and terrestrial public broadcaster and television network in Iraq that was set up after the fall of Saddam Hussein. It is an Arabic language network that serves upwards of 85% ...
TV station. Many private TV stations are also available, such as the popular Al Sharqiya Al Sharqiya ("The Eastern One") ( ar, الشرقية) is Iraq's first privately owned satellite channel owned by the London,
Baghdad and Dubai-based Iraqi media tycoon Saad al-Bazzaz, is a well-known sunni political opponent from Mosul. Al-Bazzaz ...
. Up to 97% of homes have a satellite dish and there are more than 30 Iraq-facing satellite networks. Iraqi radio stations showcase the diversity of popular opinion, from hard-line Islamic fundamentalism to Radio Sawa
Radio Sawa ( ar, راديو سوا) is a Middle Eastern radio station broadcasting in the Arab world. The station is a service of the Middle East Broadcasting Networks, Inc., which also operates Alhurra Television and is publicly funded by the U. ...
, politically oriented stations, and stations featuring content appealing to Kurdish listeners. In the northern autonomous Kurdish enclaves, rival political factions operate their own media.[
The BBC World Service broadcasts in Iraq, as does the American Forces Network (AFN) and British Forces Broadcasting Service (BFBS). Other foreign radio stations operating within Iraq include the UAE's Middle East Broadcasting Centre (MBC), Paris-based ]Monte Carlo Doualiya
Monte Carlo Doualiya (MCD), formerly known as RMC Moyen-Orient ( en, Radio Monte Carlo Middle East), is a French public radio service that broadcasts across the Arab world. It was founded in 1972 and, like Radio France Internationale (RFI) is pa ...
, Moyen-Orient, and Radio France International (RFI).[
]
Telephones
* Calling code: +964[
* ]International call prefix
An international call prefix, international dial-out code or international direct dial code (IDD code) is a trunk prefix that indicates an international phone call. In the dialling sequence, the prefix precedes the country calling code (and, fur ...
: 00
* Main lines:
** 1.9 million main lines in use, 62nd in the world (2012);[
** 833,000 lines in use (2005).
* Mobile cellular:
** 38.22 million (2019)
**26.8 million lines, 40th in the world (2012);]
** 9.0 million lines (2005).
* Telephone system: Iraq War of 2003
The 2003 invasion of Iraq was a United States-led invasion of the Republic of Iraq and the first stage of the Iraq War. The invasion phase began on 19 March 2003 (air) and 20 March 2003 (ground) and lasted just over one month, including 26 ...
severely disrupted telecommunications throughout Iraq including international connections; repairs to switches and lines destroyed during 2003 continue; widespread government efforts to rebuild domestic and international communications through fiber optic links are in progress; the mobile cellular market has expanded rapidly to some 27 million subscribers at the end of 2012; since 2007 three GSM
The Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) is a standard developed by the European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI) to describe the protocols for second-generation ( 2G) digital cellular networks used by mobile devices such ...
operators since have expanded beyond their regional roots and offer near country-wide access to second-generation services; third-generation mobile services are not available nationwide; wireless local loop
Wireless local loop (WLL), is the use of a wireless communications link as the " last mile / first mile" connection for delivering plain old telephone service (POTS) or Internet access (marketed under the term "broadband") to telecommunications ...
is available in some metropolitan areas and additional licenses have been issued with the hope of overcoming the lack of fixed-line infrastructure; local microwave radio relay connects border regions to Jordan, Kuwait, Syria, and Turkey; international terrestrial fiber-optic connections have been established with Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Kuwait, Jordan, and Iran (2011).[
* Communications cables: links to the ]Fiber-Optic Link Around the Globe
Fibre-optic Link Around the Globe (FLAG) is a fibre optic mostly-submarine communications cable that connects the United Kingdom, Japan, India, and many places in between. The cable is operated by Global Cloud Xchange, a subsidiary of RCOM. T ...
(FLAG) / FALCON
Falcons () are birds of prey in the genus ''Falco'', which includes about 40 species. Falcons are widely distributed on all continents of the world except Antarctica, though closely related raptors did occur there in the Eocene.
Adult falcons ...
, and the Gulf Bridge International
Gulf Bridge International (GBI) is the Middle East's first privately owned submarine cable system linking the countries bordering the Persian Gulf on a self-healing ring to each other and onwards to Europe, Africa and Asia. Gulf Bridge Internatio ...
(GBI),[ and TGN-Gulf international submarine fiber-optic cables have been established (2011).
* Satellite earth stations: 2 Intelsat (]Atlantic Ocean
The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about . It covers approximately 20% of Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the " Old World" of Africa, Europe ...
) and 1 Indian Ocean
The Indian Ocean is the third-largest of the world's five oceanic divisions, covering or ~19.8% of the water on Earth's surface. It is bounded by Asia to the north, Africa to the west and Australia to the east. To the south it is bounded by t ...
, 1 Intersputnik
The Intersputnik International Organization of Space Communications, commonly known as Intersputnik, is an international satellite communications services organization founded on 15 November 1971, in Moscow by the Soviet Union along with a group of ...
(Atlantic Ocean
The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about . It covers approximately 20% of Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the " Old World" of Africa, Europe ...
region), and 1 Arabsat
The Arab Satellite Communications Organization (often abbreviated as Arabsat) is a communications satellite operator in the Arab World, headquartered in the city of Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Arabsat was created to deliver satellite-based, public and ...
(inoperative) (2011).[
The ]2003 Iraq War
The 2003 invasion of Iraq was a United States-led invasion of the Republic of Iraq and the first stage of the Iraq War. The invasion phase began on 19 March 2003 (air) and 20 March 2003 (ground) and lasted just over one month, including ...
severely disrupted telecommunications throughout Iraq, including international connections. The Iraq Reconstruction Management Office
Investment in post-2003 Iraq refers to international efforts to rebuild the infrastructure of Iraq since the Iraq War in 2003. Along with the economic reform of Iraq, international projects have been implemented to repair and upgrade Iraqi water ...
(IRMO) under the U.S. State Department assisted the Iraqi Ministry of Communications by advising on the repair of switching capability and helping to devise the regulatory framework and licensing regimes for construction of mobile and satellite communications facilities. Many people and companies were involved in the reconstruction including private and public telecommunications companies from the United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...
, China, Turkey
Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with a small portion on the Balkan Peninsula in ...
, and the Middle East
The Middle East ( ar, الشرق الأوسط, ISO 233: ) is a geopolitical region commonly encompassing Arabia (including the Arabian Peninsula and Bahrain), Asia Minor (Asian part of Turkey except Hatay Province), East Thrace (Europ ...
. Special recognition must be given to the government of Japan and the World Bank Group
The World Bank Group (WBG) is a family of five international organizations that make leveraged loans to developing countries. It is the largest and best-known development bank in the world and an observer at the United Nations Development Gr ...
for funding the first national microwave networks. Most credit goes to the staff of the Ministry of Communications and their operating personnel, and the numerous large and small service providers, who persevere under difficult working conditions. USAID
The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) is an independent agency of the U.S. federal government that is primarily responsible for administering civilian foreign aid and development assistance. With a budget of over $27 bi ...
funded several IT training programs with excellent international specialists as trainers and teachers.
Today the system has undergone a remarkable transformation with high rates of annual investment and a functioning regulatory system, that is not quite independent of the political process, but still provides the framework for a competitive telecommunications regime. In 2013-2014 the system is under stress from renewed fighting between different political factions in Iraq.
Internet
* 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 ...
: .iq[
* ]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 ...
:
** 30 million users (2020)
**2.2 million users, 87th in the world; 7.1% of the population, 179th in the world (2012).[Calculated using penetration rate and population data fro]
"Countries and Areas Ranked by Population: 2012"
, Population data, International Programs, U.S. Census Bureau, retrieved 26 June 2013["Percentage of Individuals using the Internet 2000-2012"](_blank)
International Telecommunication Union (Geneva), June 2013, retrieved 22 June 2013
** 325,900 users, 126th in the world (2009).[
* Fixed broadband: Unknown (2012).]["Fixed (wired)-broadband subscriptions per 100 inhabitants 2012"](_blank)
Dynamic Report, ITU ITC EYE, 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 ...
. Retrieved on 29 June 2013.
* Wireless broadband
Wireless broadband is telecommunications technology that provides high-speed wireless Internet access or computer networking access over a wide area. The term comprises both fixed and mobile broadband.
The term broadband
Originally the word ...
: Unknown (2012).["Active mobile-broadband subscriptions per 100 inhabitants 2012"](_blank)
Dynamic Report, ITU ITC EYE, 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 ...
. Retrieved on 29 June 2013.
* Internet hosts: 26 hosts, 218th in the world (2012).[
* IPv4: 243,712 addresses allocated, 108th in the world, less than 0.05% of the world total, 7.8 addresses per 1000 people (2012).
Under the government of ]Saddam Hussein
Saddam Hussein ( ; ar, صدام حسين, Ṣaddām Ḥusayn; 28 April 1937 – 30 December 2006) was an Iraqi politician who served as the fifth president of Iraq from 16 July 1979 until 9 April 2003. A leading member of the revolutio ...
, Internet access was tightly controlled and very few people were thought to be online; in 2002 it was estimated that only 25,000 Iraqis used the Internet. With his ouster, Internet usage has become commonplace. Uruklink, originally the sole Iraqi Internet service provider
An Internet service provider (ISP) is an organization that provides services for accessing, using, or participating in the Internet. ISPs can be organized in various forms, such as commercial, community-owned, non-profit, or otherwise privat ...
, now faces competition from other ISPs, including broadband satellite Internet access services from both Middle East and European VSAT
A very-small-aperture terminal (VSAT) is a two-way satellite ground station with a dish antenna that is smaller than 3.8 meters. The majority of VSAT antennas range from 75 cm to 1.2 m. Bit rates, in most cases, range from 4 kbit/s up to 1 ...
hubs. The primary military telecom service provider in Iraq is
Ts 2
TS2 SPACE is an Internet service provider for US Army soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan. Most of its active customers are Polish and US Army soldiers; TS 2 methods have also been implemented for private companies and organizations. The TS 2 network ...
. Since 2006 several more companies have emerged to provide options to individual Iraqis that make Internet access more affordable, albeit with less bandwidth. One such business is Advanced Technology Systems-Iraq (ATS-Iraq).
Some ISPs in Iraq's capital, Baghdad
Baghdad (; ar, بَغْدَاد , ) is the capital of Iraq and the second-largest city in the Arab world after Cairo. It is located on the Tigris near the ruins of the ancient city of Babylon and the Sassanid Persian capital of Ctesiphon. I ...
, are:
* BaghTel established in Baghdad in May 2003. It started as the first cybercafe in Baghdad after the Iraq War; utilizing VSAT internet and Engine-generator
An engine–generator is the combination of an electrical generator and an engine (prime mover) mounted together to form a single piece of equipment. This combination is also called an ''engine–generator set'' or a ''gen-set''. In many contexts ...
s due to total lack of infrastructure after the war. It then evolved into a fast-growing ISP
An Internet service provider (ISP) is an organization that provides services for accessing, using, or participating in the Internet. ISPs can be organized in various forms, such as commercial, community-owned, non-profit, or otherwise private ...
. Sixteen years in the market, BaghTel now specializes in high-SLA IPLC
A leased line is a private telecommunications circuit between two or more locations provided according to a commercial contract. It is sometimes also known as a private circuit, and as a data line in the UK. Typically, leased lines are used by ...
services. BaghTel's typical clientele is embassies and foreign companies due to the high SLAs it offers.
* MASARAT telecom, offering speeds up to 128KB kilobyte and it is one of the worst Internet in Iraq;
* FastIraq, which provides business & residential services across all of Iraq with multiple routes & nodes in Baghdad, Basra & Erbil Iraq
EarthLink Telecommunications
a limited liability company in Iraq. It was established in 2005, and during12 years of establishment, it managed to become one of the biggest service provider in Iraq with 15 province coverage, with 102 dedicated teams and 1600 WiFi locations.
* Rose Telecom, providing speeds up to 0/7.7 Mbit/s in off-peak times and 912/128 kbit/s at peak; and
* ATS-Iraq, which targets the home and single user demographic.
TigrisNet
is a main primary provider offering MPLS among other services. TigrisNet holds the highest SLA by managing multiple routes and has been the major Intelsat satellite provider in Iraq.
* Alhayat-isp which provide a good dedicated service with real IPs and full backup during fiber cut
* ScopeSky Communications, ScopeSky Company for Communications and Internet services is the main partner of Iraqi Ministry of Communication. It is the first Iraqi Company that holds an authorization from the Ministry of Communication the Iraq Telecoms and Post Company (ITPC) in 2009 for operating and maintaining the national fiber optic network in Iraq and linking it with the neighbor countries and the world through multiple terrestrial and submarine borders. ScopeSky has customers spanning Telecom, Banking, Oil & Gas, Construction & Real Estate companies.
* AlsardFiber registered in 2007 and is one of the largest firms with more than 5000 km its own fiber optic backbone in all of Iraq (including Kurdistan region) with wide range of the IP services
* Vizocom, one of the providers of internet over satellite (VSAT) and fiber in Iraq. It has been serving embassies, multi-national companies including oil and gas companies, defense contractors, as well as government agencies since 2010.
iQ
one of the biggest fiber optic internet provider in Iraq, it runs an extensive network infrastructure that connects Iraq with Frankfurt which has made it the backbone of all telecommunications in Iraq.
Because of the reduction in usage and capability of the land line infrastructure since 2004, all Iraqi ISPs use wireless technology to provide Internet service to their customers. The Iraqi people await the repair and equipping of the country's telecommunications infrastructure to allow for land-based Internet access methods, such as Cable Internet and DSL
Digital subscriber line (DSL; originally digital subscriber loop) is a family of technologies that are used to transmit digital data over telephone lines. In telecommunications marketing, the term DSL is widely understood to mean asymmetric dig ...
.
Internet censorship and surveillance
In August 2009 the OpenNet Initiative
The OpenNet Initiative (ONI) was a joint project whose goal was to monitor and report on internet filtering and surveillance practices by nations. The project employed a number of technical means, as well as an international network of investigato ...
found no evidence of Internet filtering in Iraq in all four of the areas for which they test (political, social, conflict/security, and Internet tools).["ONI Country Profile: Iraq"]
OpenNet Initiative, 10 August 2009
There are no overt government restrictions on access to the Internet or official acknowledgement that the government monitors e-mail
Electronic mail (email or e-mail) is a method of exchanging messages ("mail") between people using electronic devices. Email was thus conceived as the electronic (digital) version of, or counterpart to, mail, at a time when "mail" meant ...
or Internet chat rooms
The term chat room, or chatroom (and sometimes group chat; abbreviated as GC), is primarily used to describe any form of synchronous conferencing, occasionally even asynchronous conferencing. The term can thus mean any technology, ranging from ...
without judicial oversight. NGOs report that the government could and was widely believed to monitor e‑mail, chat rooms, and social media sites through local Internet service providers.["Iraq"]
''Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for 2012'', Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor, U.S. Department of State, 22 April 2013. Retrieved 16 February 2014.
The constitution broadly provides for the right of free expression
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 recog ...
, provided it does not violate public order and morality or express support for the banned Baath Party or for altering the country's borders by violent means. In practice the main limitation on individual and media exercise of these rights is self-censorship due to real fear of reprisals by the government, political parties, ethnic and sectarian forces, terrorist and extremist groups, or criminal gangs. Libel and defamation are offenses under the penal law and the 1968 Publications Law with penalties of up to seven years' imprisonment for publicly insulting the government.[
After the release and media amplification of the controversial "]Innocence of Muslims
''Innocence of Muslims'' is an anti-Islamic short film that was written and produced by Nakoula Basseley Nakoula. Two versions of the 14-minute video were uploaded to YouTube in July 2012, under the titles "The Real Life of Muhammad" and "Muham ...
" Internet video in September 2012, Christian groups reported an increase in death threats. One militant group called the Brigade of the Straight Path issued an ultimatum to Christians in Mosul
Mosul ( ar, الموصل, al-Mawṣil, ku, مووسڵ, translit=Mûsil, Turkish: ''Musul'', syr, ܡܘܨܠ, Māwṣil) is a major city in northern Iraq, serving as the capital of Nineveh Governorate. The city is considered the second larg ...
to leave or be killed. The government provided additional security in Christian neighborhoods following the threat. There were no deaths or attacks related to the threat, and the government reduced security to normal levels by the end of 2012.[
The constitution mandates that authorities may not enter or search homes except with a judicial order. The constitution also prohibits arbitrary interference with privacy. In practice security forces often entered homes without search warrants and took other measures interfering with privacy, family, and correspondence.][
In 2011 when a documentary filmmaker and author of a prominent ]blog
A blog (a truncation of "weblog") is a discussion or informational website published on the World Wide Web consisting of discrete, often informal diary-style text entries (posts). Posts are typically displayed in reverse chronological order s ...
organized the video coverage of peaceful protests over the Internet via a short, nonsubscription messaging service, he was beaten on 22 April and again on 22 July, allegedly by individuals in civilian clothing linked to the security forces and by army officers as he attempted to videotape demonstrations in Tahrir Square
Tahrir Square ( ar, ميدان التحرير ', , English: Liberation Square), also known as "Martyr Square", is a major public town square in downtown Cairo, Egypt. The square has been the location and focus for political demonstrations in Cai ...
for his blog. He went into hiding, and a few days after the second attack police searched his house. He later resumed blogging.["Iraq"]
''Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for 2011'', Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor, U.S. Department of State, 25 May 2012. Retrieved 16 February 2014.
Postal system
As part of the post-invasion social and economic infrastructure reconstruction program, a contract worth $55 million was awarded to study the postal system
The mail or post is a system for physically transporting postcards, letters, and parcels. A postal service can be private or public, though many governments place restrictions on private systems. Since the mid-19th century, national postal syst ...
in Iraq. The Postal system of Iraq was organized following that study.
See also
* Iraqi Telecommunications and Post Company
* Iraqi Post
Iraq Telecom Facts
References
*
*
External links
Uruklink
Iraq state company for Internet Services.
Geography About.com.
Iraq profile
''BBC News''.
LiveLink Internet Service Provider Communication
ScopeSky Communication
{{DEFAULTSORT:Communications In Iraq
Internet in Iraq
Iraq
Iraq,; ku, عێراق, translit=Êraq officially the Republic of Iraq, '; ku, کۆماری عێراق, translit=Komarî Êraq is a country in Western Asia. It is bordered by Turkey to the north, Iran to the east, the Persian Gulf and K ...