Telecommunications in Lesotho include radio, television, print and online newspapers, fixed and mobile telephones, and the Internet.

Radio

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 ...

: 2 state-owned radio stations; government controls most private broadcast media; transmissions of multiple international broadcasters are available (2008)."Communications: Lesotho"
''World Factbook'', U.S. Central Intelligence Agency, 7 January 2014. Retrieved 19 January 2014. * Radio stations in Lesotho: ** Radio Lesotho 1050AM. ** Ultimate 950AM. ** Radio Lesotho 93.3FM,

Maseru Maseru is the capital and largest city of Lesotho. It is also the capital of the Maseru District. Located on the Caledon River, Maseru lies directly on the Lesotho–South Africa border. Maseru had a population of 330,760 in the 2016 census. T ...

only. ** People's Choice (PCFM) 95.6FM, Maseru only. ** Radio France International (RFI) 95.4FM, Maseru only. ** Thaha-Khube 97.1FM, Maseru only. ** Harvest 98.8FM, Maseru only. ** Moafrica 99.3FM, Maseru only. ** Ultimate 99.8FM, Maseru only. ** Kereke Evangel, 102FM. ** Catholic radio 103.3FM. ** Jeso KE Karabo 105.2FM, Maseru only. ** Joy 106.9FM, Maseru only. ** Soul Radio Internet based Radio

Television

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 ...

: 1 state-owned TV station; government controls most private broadcast media; satellite TV subscription service available; transmissions of multiple international broadcasters are available (2008). * TV stations in Lesotho: ** Lesotho Television is a state owned tv network which is operated by Lesotho National Broadcasting Services or LNBS in short, it caters for Mountain Kingdom from Current affairs, News, Culture, Reality shows, it caters in both official languages in Lesotho which is Sesotho or English (LTV 292 on DStv). **

Newspapers

* Main newspapers in Lesotho: ** Public Eye newspaper
Public Eye website
** Lesotho Times,Lesotho Times website
** Sunday Express, ** Informative News,Informative News website
** AllAfrica.com ** Finite Magazine ** LENA (Lesotho News Agency) ** The Post

Telephones

* Calling code +266 *

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: 43,100 lines in use, 168th in the world (2012). * Mobile cellular: 1.3 million lines, 153rd in the world (2012). * Telephone system: Rudimentary system consisting of a modest number of landlines, a small microwave radio relay system, and a small radiotelephone communication system; privatized in 2001, Telecom Lesotho was tasked with providing an additional 50,000 fixed-line connections within five years, a target not met; mobile-cellular service dominates the market and is expanding with a subscribership of roughly 65 per 100 persons in 2011; rural services are scant (2011). *

Satellite earth station A ground station, Earth station, or Earth terminal is a terrestrial radio station designed for extraplanetary telecommunication with spacecraft (constituting part of the ground segment of the spacecraft system), or reception of radio waves fro ...

: 1 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 ...

) (2011).

Telecommunications providers

Vodacom Lesotho Vodacom Group Limited is a South-Western African mobile communications company, providing voice, messaging, data and converged services to over 55 million customers. From its roots in South Africa, Vodacom has grown its operations to include n ...

started operating in 1996 with the Government of Lesotho as a shareholder through its stake in Lesotho Telecommunications Corporation. When the Government of Lesotho began its privatisation process in 1999, it invited bids for this share in Vodacom Lesotho. In July 2000, Sekha-Metsi Consortium, a group of local business people and public figures, was announced as the successful bidder. Sekha-Metsi now holds a 12% share in Vodacom Lesotho with the remaining share held by Vodacom Group. In 2008 Vodacom Lesotho introduced its new partnership with

Vodafone Vodafone Group plc () is a British multinational telecommunications company. Its registered office and global headquarters are in Newbury, Berkshire, England. It predominantly operates services in Asia, Africa, Europe, and Oceania. , Vod ...

. Econet Telecom Lesotho is part of the

Econet Wireless Econet, officially known as Econet Global Ltd, is a diversified telecommunications group with operations and investments in Africa, Europe, South America and the East Asia Pacific Rim, offering products and services in the core areas of mobile ...

group and operates as a stand-alone entity with full local board and management control. It is the first

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...

n mobile service operator to use ForgetMeNot Africa's eTXT service to enable their customer base to send and receive

email 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" mean ...

via any mobile capable of a simple

SMS Short Message/Messaging Service, commonly abbreviated as SMS, is a text messaging service component of most telephone, Internet and mobile device systems. It uses standardized communication protocols that let mobile devices exchange short text ...

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 ...

.ls .ls is the Internet country code top-level domain (ccTLD) for Lesotho. Second-level domains Registration to .ls domains are provided through accredited registrars. There are also registrations on third level as shown below History The .ls ...

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 ...

: 88,602 users, 170th in the world; 4.6% of the population, 189th 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"
International Telecommunication Union (Geneva), June 2013, retrieved 22 June 2013 * 27.93 % of households with internet access as of 2017 * Fixed broadband: 2,529 subscriptions, 169th in the world; 0.1% of the population, 163rd in the world (2012)."Fixed (wired)-broadband subscriptions per 100 inhabitants 2012"
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"
Dynamic Report, ITU ITC EYE,

. Retrieved on 29 June 2013. * Internet hosts: 11,030 hosts, 131st in the world (2012). * IPv4: 40,448 addresses allocated, less than 0.05% of the world total, 21.0 addresses per 1000 people (2012).Population

The World Factbook ''The World Factbook'', also known as the ''CIA World Factbook'', is a reference resource produced by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) with almanac-style information about the countries of the world. The official print version is availabl ...

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 ...

Central Intelligence Agency The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA ), known informally as the Agency and historically as the Company, is a civilian foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States, officially tasked with gathering, processing, ...

. Accessed on 2 April 2012. Note: Data are mostly for 1 July 2012. *

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 ...

s: 4 ISPs (2013).

Internet censorship and surveillance

There are no government restrictions on access to the Internet or credible reports 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. The Internet is not widely available and almost nonexistent in rural areas due to the lack of communications infrastructure and high cost of access."Lesotho"
''Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for 2012'', Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor, U.S. Department of State, 21 March 2013. Retrieved 19 January 2014. The constitution and law provide for freedom of speech, so long as they do not interfere with "defense, public safety, public order, public morality, or public health". The government generally respects this right. An independent press, effective judiciary, and functioning democratic political system combine generally to promote freedom of the press; however, harassment of journalists and self-censorship persist. The law prohibits expressions of hatred or contempt for any person because of the person’s race, ethnic affiliation, gender, disability, or color.

References

* *

External links

LEO domain name registrar
website.
Lesotho Amateur Radio Society
website.
Lesotho Communications Authority
website. {{DEFAULTSORT:Telecommunications In Lesotho