United Arab Emirates-Telecommunications

The UAE has a modern telecommunications network that provides its citizens with good telephone and broadcast services. In 1992 the country had 386,000 telephones, or about eighteen telephones per 100 inhabitants. About one-third of the telephones are in the Dubayy area. Service is entirely automatic. International direct dial is available to all customers. A domestic network of highcapacity radio-relay stations and coaxial cable links all major towns.

International telecommunications are excellent. Radio-relay and undersea cables link the UAE with neighboring countries, and two satellite systems provide links to the rest of the world. Telecommunications to Saudi Arabia and to Bahrain go via highcapacity radio-relay links. Submarine cables laid in the late 1980s carry telephone calls to Qatar, Bahrain, India, and Pakistan. Telephone, television, and data communication to Europe, Asia, and the Americas go via three satellite ground stations, working with the International Telecommunications Satellite Corporation's (Intelsat) Atlantic Ocean and Indian Ocean satellites. In the early 1990s, television viewers in the UAE and throughout the Persian Gulf began receiving the twentyfour -hour news broadcasts of the Atlanta-based Cable News Network (CNN) via Intelsat. Television transmission and telephone calls to other countries in the Middle East are routed through a ground station linked to the Arab Satellite Communication Organization (Arabsat) satellite. Arabsat provides telephone, data transmission, telex, and facsimile service. Arabsat also is used for live broadcasts of prayers from Mecca and Medina and for viewing inter-Arab sports events.

In early 1993, broadcast facilities were adequate, and all populated areas of the country received television transmissions and radio broadcasts. Eight AM radio stations broadcast in Arabic, English, Urdu, and Sinhalese, in addition to three FM radio stations. Two powerful shortwave stations with broadcasts in Arabic and English can be received worldwide. Television broadcasts reach throughout the country via twelve large transmitters. The country has an estimated 400,000 radios and 170,000 television sets.

Data as of January 1993