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Libya
Index
In 1987 Libya had a modern telecommunications system that
provided high-quality service between the country's main population
centers. All telecommunications activities were carried out by the
General Post, Telephone, and Telegraph Organization, a subsidiary
of the Secretariat of Communications. In 1975 a microwave system
connecting radio, telephone, and television signals along the coast
was established; it was superseded in 1985 by a US$25 million highcapacity cable system and a submarine cable that linked the whole
coastal strip with parts of the south all the way to the Chadian
border. The transmission systems included microwave radio relay,
coaxial cable, submarine cable, tropospheric scatter, and
satellites. The system was capable of serving approximately 10
million telephone subscribers, including those along the densely
populated Mediterranean coast.
Telecommunications in Libya were greatly improved in the late
1970s and early 1980s. The interior of the country was served by
various systems. Radio relay and coaxial cable extended to numerous
points and a domestic satellite system was constructed to serve
areas not fully integrated into the ground-based networks. The
number of telephone lines increased from 90,000 in 1978 to 215,000
in 1985--an average of 1 telephone for every 100 citizens.
Switching was predominantly automatic.
International telecommunications links, like the domestic
routes, were linked via multiple transmission systems. Submarine
cables extended from Tripoli to Marseilles, France, and Catania,
Italy, providing telephone and telegraph circuits between Libya and
Western Europe. A satellite ground- station complex located near
Tripoli operated through the Atlantic Ocean and Indian Ocean
satellites of the International Telecommunications Satellite
(INTELSAT) organization. Additionally, Libya was a member of the
regional Arab Satellite (ARABSAT) organization.
Radio broadcast transmissions were made by five high-power and
numerous low-power AM stations for domestic service and by a highpower transmitter located at Sabratah, near Tripoli, for
international shortwave service. FM broadcasting was expanded to
reach most of the country.
* * *
Many studies on the economy of Libya since the revolution tend
to emphasize the political aspects of Libyan economic policy,
giving scant attention to the economic ramifications of
governmental policy choices. A major exception to this rule are the
works of J.A. Allan, who has written several excellent analytical
pieces on the Libyan economy. Allan's Libya, the Experience of
Oil remains the principal source on the economy before 1980.
Allan presents a useful summary of the problems facing Libyan
agriculture in his chapter "Capital Has Not Substituted for Water
in Agriculture," to be found in J.A. Allan (ed.), Libya Since
Independence. Another good summary of the economy can be found
in the chapter by Stace Birks and Clive Sinclair in Richard Lawless
and Allan Findlay (eds.), North Africa. In addition to these
analytical works, much information can be culled from the Economist
Intelligence Unit's Quarterly Economic Review series on
Libya, various issues of Middle East Economic Digest, and
Africa Research Bulletin. The best source of government
statistics is the Central Bank of Libya, Annual Report
series, for various years. (For complete citations and further
information,
see
Bibliography.)
Data as of 1987
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