General

The telecommunications system is modern and has good domestic service and excellent international connections. In 1992 the country had some 98,000 telephones, or eighteen per 100 inhabitants, one of the highest per capita figures in the Middle East. Radio-relay and submarine cables link Bahrain with all its neighbours. Three satellite ground stations--one operating with International Telecommunications Satellite Corporation's (Intelsat) Atlantic Ocean satellite, one operating with Intelsat's Indian Ocean satellite, and one operating as part of the Arab Satellite Communication Organization (Arabsat) system-- provide excellent international telephone and data links and live television broadcasts. Two AM and three FM radio stations provide broadcast services in Arabic and English. A shortwave AM station beams programs in Arabic throughout the Middle East.

An Overview

Telephones - main lines in use
185,800 (2003)

Telephones - mobile cellular
443,100 (2003)

Telephone system
general assessment: modern system
domestic: modern fiber-optic integrated services; digital network with rapidly growing use of mobile cellular telephones
international: country code - 973; tropospheric scatter to Qatar and UAE; microwave radio relay to Saudi Arabia; submarine cable to Qatar, UAE, and Saudi Arabia; satellite earth stations - 2 Intelsat (1 Atlantic Ocean and 1 Indian Ocean) and 1 Arabsat (1997)