Telecommunications in Guinea-Bissau include radio, television, fixed and mobile telephones, and the Internet.

Guinea-Bissau Guinea-Bissau ( ; pt, Guiné-Bissau; ff, italic=no, 𞤘𞤭𞤲𞤫 𞤄𞤭𞤧𞤢𞥄𞤱𞤮, Gine-Bisaawo, script=Adlm; Mandinka: ''Gine-Bisawo''), officially the Republic of Guinea-Bissau ( pt, República da Guiné-Bissau, links=no ), ...

is one of the poorest countries in the world. This reality is reflected in the state of the country's telecommunications development. It is estimated that in 2012 there were only 5000 fixed telephone lines serving the country's 1.6 million inhabitants and that only 2.9% of the population had access to and were regular users of the Internet.

Radio and television

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 ...

: ** One state-owned radio station ( Guinea-Bissau National Radio), several private radio stations, and some community radio stations; multiple international broadcasters are available (2007);"Communications: Guinea-Bissau"
''World Factbook'', U.S. Central Intelligence Agency, 28 January 2014. Retrieved 3 February 2014. ** One AM, four FM, and no shortwave (2001). *

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 ...

: 49,000 (1997). *

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 ...

: One state-owned TV station ( Guinea-Bissau Television) and a second station, Radio e Televisao de Portugal África (RTP África), operated by Portuguese public broadcaster (RTP) (2007). Private radio stations operate alongside the state-run broadcaster. Broadcasters face many challenges, not least the lack of a reliable power supply. The media experience "harsh treatment" from the authorities, security forces, and individuals with connections to the military and drug traffickers. A climate of fear has led to self-censorship among the media, which particularly affects reporting on drug trafficking."Guinea-Bissau profile: Media"
''BBC News'', 14 March 2012. Retrieved 3 February 2014. Following the 12 April 2012 coup, the junta shut down all private radio stations and the national television station. They allowed only the national broadcaster, Guinea-Bissau National Radio, to broadcast intermittent military communiqués. On 15 April, the junta allowed the stations to reopen, but on 16 April warned them not to criticize the military or the coup or report on protests. These threats continued until 25 May when the civilian government was installed.

Telephones

* Calling code: +245 *

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: ** 5,000 lines in use, 210th in the world (2012); ** 4,600 lines in use, 214th in the world (2008). * Mobile cellular: ** 1.1 million lines, 156th in the world (2012); ** 500,200 lines, 155th in the world (2008). * Telephone system: small system including a combination of microwave radio relay, open-wire lines, radiotelephone, and mobile-cellular communications; fixed-line teledensity is less than 1 per 100 persons; mobile-cellular teledensity approached 50 per 100 persons (2011).

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 ...

.gw .gw is the Internet country code top-level domain (ccTLD) for Guinea-Bissau. The .gw country code top-level domain was delegated multiple times to different entities. The domain was introduced to the root zone on 4 February 1997, and management ...

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 ...

: ** 47,132 users, 181st in the world; 2.9% of the population, 196th 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 ** 37,100 users, 177th in the world (2009). * Fixed broadband: Unknown (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: ** 90 hosts, 211th in the world (2012); ** 82 hosts, 202nd in the world (2009). * IPv4: 5,120 addresses allocated, less than 0.05% of the world total, 3.1 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 censorship and surveillance

There are no government restrictions on access to the Internet or 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."Guinea-Bissau"
''Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for 2012'', Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor, U.S. Department of State, 22 March 2013. Retrieved 3 February 2014. The constitution and law provide for freedom of speech 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 ...

; however, there are reports that the government does not always respect these rights. The constitution and law prohibit arbitrary interference with privacy, family, home, or correspondence, but the government does not always respect these prohibitions in practice. Police routinely ignore

privacy rights The right to privacy is an element of various legal traditions that intends to restrain governmental and private actions that threaten the privacy of individuals. Over 150 national constitutions mention the right to privacy. On 10 December 194 ...

and protections against unreasonable search and seizure.

References

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External links