Telecommunications in Western Sahara include radio, television, fixed and mobile telephones, and the Internet. Morocco claims the Western Sahara territory and administers Moroccan law through Moroccan institutions in the estimated 85 percent of the territory it controls. The Popular Front for the Liberation of Saguia el Hamra and Rio de Oro (Polisario), an organization that has sought independence for the former Spanish territory since 1973, disputes Morocco’s claim to sovereignty over the territory. Because of this long running dispute, many traditional telecommunication statistics are not reported separately for the Western Sahara.

Radio and television

* Radio stations: ** Morocco's state broadcaster, Société Nationale de Radiodiffusion et de Télévision (SNRT, formerly RTM) operates a radio service from Laayoune (2008);"Communications: Western Sahara"
''World Factbook'', U.S. Central Intelligence Agency, 10 January 2014. Retrieved 2 February 2014. ** Polisario-backed medium wave (AM) and shortwave radio stations are on the air (2008); ** Unofficial

amateur radio Amateur radio, also known as ham radio, is the use of the radio frequency spectrum for purposes of non-commercial exchange of messages, wireless experimentation, self-training, private recreation, radiosport, contesting, and emergency communic ...

stations occasionally operate from Polisario territory. This is classified as the DXCC entity "Western Sahara". Operators use

callsign In broadcasting and radio communications, a call sign (also known as a call name or call letters—and historically as a call signal—or abbreviated as a call) is a unique identifier for a transmitter station. A call sign can be formally assigne ...

s with the prefix "S0"; an informal identifier that has not been issued by the International Telecommunication Union. * Radios: 56,000 (1997). * Television stations: Morocco's state broadcaster, SNRT, operates a TV service that is relayed in the territory (2008). The Polisario-owned territory operates a minor television service known by the name of

RASD TV RASD TV is the Sahrawi state-owned satellite and terrestrial public-service television broadcaster. Its offices are located in the Sahrawi refugee camps of Tindouf Province, Algeria. History The channel was established in February 2004, bu ...

. * Television sets: 6,000 (1997).

Telephones

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 ...

: +212 * International call prefix: 00 * Main lines: about 2,000 lines in use (1999 estimate). * Mobile cellular: Unknown. * Telephone system: sparse and limited system; tied into Morocco's system by

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 ...

, tropospheric scatter, and satellite (2008). * Satellite earth stations: 2

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) linked to

Rabat Rabat (, also , ; ar, الرِّبَاط, er-Ribât; ber, ⵕⵕⴱⴰⵟ, ṛṛbaṭ) is the capital city of Morocco and the country's seventh largest city with an urban population of approximately 580,000 (2014) and a metropolitan populati ...

, Morocco (2008).

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 ...

: none, as a disputed territory no country code top-level domain (ccTLD) is assigned, however,

.eh Western Sahara is a disputed territory, and as such it has no country code top-level domain ( ccTLD). .eh is reserved for this purpose, and will be assigned if the Western Sahara conflict results in an agreement between the Sahrawi Arab Democrat ...

is reserved for this purpose, and will be assigned if the competing claimants reach an agreement. *

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 ...

: unknown (2012)."Percentage of Individuals using the Internet 2000-2012"
International Telecommunication Union (Geneva), June 2013, retrieved 22 June 2013 * Fixed broadband: unknown (2012)."Fixed (wired)-broadband subscriptions per 100 inhabitants 2012"
Dynamic Report, ITU ITC EYE, International Telecommunication Union. Retrieved on 29 June 2013. * Wireless broadband: unknown (2012)."Active mobile-broadband subscriptions per 100 inhabitants 2012"
Dynamic Report, ITU ITC EYE, International Telecommunication Union. Retrieved on 29 June 2013. *

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 ...

: no hosts explicitly associated with Western Sahara (2012). *

IPv4 Internet Protocol version 4 (IPv4) is the fourth version of the Internet Protocol (IP). It is one of the core protocols of standards-based internetworking methods in the Internet and other packet-switched networks. IPv4 was the first version de ...

: no addresses allocated (2012).Select Formats
, Country IP Blocks. Accessed on 2 April 2012. Note: Site is said to be updated daily. * Internet Service Providers (ISPs): NA

Internet censorship and surveillance

There is no indication that Internet access in the territory differs from that in internationally recognized Morocco, which was generally open."Western Sahara"
''Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for 2012'', Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor, U.S. Department of State, 17 April 2013. Retrieved 2 February 2014. Morocco was listed as engaged in selective Internet filtering in the social, conflict/security, and Internet tools areas and as little or no evidence of filtering in the political area by the OpenNet Initiative (ONI) in August 2009."ONI Country Profile: Morocco"
OpenNet Initiative, 6 August 2009

Freedom House Freedom House is a non-profit, majority U.S. government funded organization in Washington, D.C., that conducts research and advocacy on democracy, political freedom, and human rights. Freedom House was founded in October 1941, and Wendell Wil ...

listed Morocco's "Internet Freedom Status" as "Partly Free" in its 2013 ''Freedom on the Net'' report."Morocco country report"
''Freedom on the Net 2013'', Freedom House. Retrieved 19 October 2013. Morocco considers the part of the territory that it administers to be an integral component of the kingdom with the same laws and structures regarding

civil liberties Civil liberties are guarantees and freedoms that governments commit not to abridge, either by constitution, legislation, or judicial interpretation, without due process. Though the scope of the term differs between countries, civil liberties may ...

, political, and economic rights. Moroccan law prohibits citizens from criticizing

Islam Islam (; ar, ۘالِإسلَام, , ) is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic Monotheism#Islam, monotheistic religion centred primarily around the Quran, a religious text considered by Muslims to be the direct word of God in Islam, God (or ...

or the institution of the monarchy or to oppose the government’s official position regarding territorial integrity and Western Sahara. Saharan media outlets and bloggers practice

self-censorship Self-censorship is the act of censoring or classifying one's own discourse. This is done out of fear of, or deference to, the sensibilities or preferences (actual or perceived) of others and without overt pressure from any specific party or insti ...

on these issues, and there are no reports of government action against them for what they write. Human rights and Sahrawi bloggers affiliated with leftist political groups assume that authorities closely monitor their activities and feel the need to hide their identities.

References

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External links