Telecommunications in Niger include radio, television, fixed and mobile telephones, and the Internet.

Radio and television

Radio stations Radio broadcasting is transmission of audio signal, 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-b ...

: * state-run TV station; 3 private TV stations provide a mix of local and foreign programming (2007);"Communications: Niger"
''World Factbook'', U.S. Central Intelligence Agency, 28 January 2014. Retrieved 28 January 2014. * 5 AM, 6 FM, and 4 shortwave stations (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 ...

: * 680,000 (1997); * 500,000 (1992).

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 earth ...

: state-run TV station; 3 private TV stations provide a mix of local and foreign programming (2007).

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: * 125,000 (1997); * 37,000 (1992). Because literacy levels in the country are low, radio is a key source for news and information.

Radio France Internationale Radio France Internationale, usually referred to as RFI, is the state-owned international radio broadcaster of France. With 37.2 million listeners in 2014, it is one of the most-listened-to international radio stations in the world, along with ...

(RFI) is available in the capital,

Niamey Niamey () is the capital and largest city of Niger. Niamey lies on the Niger River, primarily situated on the east bank. Niamey's population was counted as 1,026,848 as of the 2012 census. As of 2017, population projections show the capital di ...

, and in the Maradi and

Zinder Zinder (locally, ''Damagaram''), formerly also spelled Sinder, is the third largest city in Niger, with a population of 170,574 (2001 census);

regions. The

BBC World Service The BBC World Service is an international broadcasting, international broadcaster owned and operated by the BBC, with funding from the Government of the United Kingdom, British Government through the Foreign Secretary, Foreign Secretary's o ...

broadcasts in the capital (100.4 FM).

Press freedom and control

The state controls much of the nation's broadcasting, though private radio stations have proliferated. The media regulatory body, the National Observatory on Communication, and the Independent Nigerien Media Observatory for Ethics, a voluntary media watchdog organization, help to maintain the media environment in Niger. The government maintains a 200 million CFA (~US$400,000) press support fund, established by law and available to all media, to encourage support for education, information, entertainment, and promoting democracy."Niger profile: Media"
''BBC News'', 24 January 2013. Retrieved 9 February 2014. Press freedom "improved considerably" after

Mamadou Tandja Mamadou Tandja (1938 – 24 November 2020) was a Nigerien politician who was President of Niger from 1999 to 2010. He was President of the National Movement for the Development Society (MNSD) from 1991 to 1999 and unsuccessfully ran as the MNSD ...

was ousted as president in 2010. Media offences were decriminalised shortly afterwards. With the passage of the 2010 law protecting journalists from prosecution related to their work and President Issoufou's November 2011 endorsement of the Declaration of Table Mountain statement on press freedom in Africa (the first head of state to sign the statement), the country continues its efforts to improve press freedom. The Declaration of Table Mountain calls for the repeal of criminal

defamation 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 ...

and "

insult An insult is an expression or statement (or sometimes behavior) which is disrespectful or scornful. Insults may be intentional or accidental. An insult may be factual, but at the same time pejorative, such as the word "inbred". Jocular exc ...

" laws and for moving

press freedom Freedom of the press or freedom of the media is the fundamental principle that communication and expression through various media, including printed and electronic media, especially published materials, should be considered a right to be exerci ...

higher on the African agenda.

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 ...

: +227

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 call, international phone call. In the dialling sequence, the prefix precedes the country call ...

: 00 Main lines: * 100,500 lines in use, 145th in the world (2012); * 24,000 lines in use, 186th in the world (2005)."Communications: Niger"
''World Factbook'', U.S. Central Intelligence Agency, 10 February 2009. Retrieved 18 February 2009. Mobile cellular: * 5.4 million lines, 107th in the world (2012); * 900,000 lines, 139th in the world (2007). Telephone system: inadequate; small system of wire,

radio telephone 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 transmit ...

communications, and

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 ...

links concentrated in the southwestern area of Niger; domestic satellite system with 3 earth stations and 1 planned; combined fixed-line and mobile-cellular teledensity remains only about 30 per 100 persons despite a rapidly increasing cellular subscribership base (2010); United Nations estimates placed telephone subscribers at 0.2 per hundred in 2000, rising to 2.5 per hundred in 2006.Niger country profile
World Statistics Pocketbook, United Nations Statistics Division, 2007. 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 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 th ...

) (2010). Communications cables: Africa Coast to Europe (ACE) via land links between Niger and the Atlantic coast.

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 ...

.ne .ne is the Internet country code top-level domain (ccTLD) for Niger. Unrelated to the .ne top-level domain, "ne" is sometimes used as a second-level domain within other country-code domains, in which registrants may register second-level domains ...

, controlled by the

parastatal A state-owned enterprise (SOE) is a government entity which is established or nationalised by the ''national government'' or ''provincial government'' by an executive order or an act of legislation in order to earn profit for the governmen ...

telecom company,

Niger Telecoms Niger Telecoms is the Nigerien national telephone and telecommunications carrier. It was created on 28 September 2016 as a fusion of SONITEL, which handled fixed telephony, and SahelCom, which controlled mobile telephony and connections. After p ...

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 ...

: * 230,084 users, 150th in the world; 1.4% of the population, 205th 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 * 115,900 users, 155th in the world (2009); * 40,000 users, 173rd in the world (2006). Fixed broadband: 3,596 subscriptions, 166th in the world; less than 0.05% of the population, 185th 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 "b ...

: Unknown (2012)."Active mobile-broadband subscriptions per 100 inhabitants 2012"
Dynamic Report, ITU ITC EYE,

. Retrieved on 29 June 2013. Internet hosts: * 454 hosts, 185th in the world (2012); * 216 hosts, 176th in the world (2008).

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 ...

: 20,480 addresses allocated, less than 0.05% of the world total, 1.2 addresses per 1000 people (2012). The

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and international security, security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be ...

estimated that there were only 0.3 Internet users per 100 Nigeriens in 2006, up from less than 0.1 per 100 in 2000. As a point of reference, the

Millennium Development Goal The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) were eight international development goals for the year 2015 that had been established following the Millennium Summit of the United Nations in 2000, following the adoption of the United Nations Millenniu ...

for least developed countries by 2015 is 8.2 Internet users per 100 population."Indicator 8.16, Internet users per 100 inhabitants: Niger"
Millennium Development Goals Indicators, United Nations Statistical Division. Retrieved 18 February 2009.

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 ...

. Although individuals and groups can engage in the peaceful expression of views via the Internet, few residents have access to it."Niger"
''Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for 2012'', Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor, U.S. Department of State, 22 March 2013. Retrieved 9 February 2014. The constitution 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 ...

, and the government generally respects these rights in practice. The constitution and law generally prohibit arbitrary interference with privacy, family, home, or correspondence, and the government generally respects these prohibitions.

References

* *

External links

Transports et télécoms (Statistical series)
, Institut National de la Statistique, Niger.
Does Digital Divide or Provide? The Impact of Cell Phones on Grain Markets in Niger
Jenny C. Aker, Center for Global Development, Tufts University, 1 October 2008.

(The Nigerian media landscape) , Djilali Benamrane, Afrik.com, 6 March 2002

Niger Information and Communications Technology Assessment
Yaovi Atohoun, Eileen Reynolds, Karl Stanzick, United States Education for Development and Democracy Initiative, 3 May 2001. {{Niger topics