Communications

Telephones - main lines in use: 3.168 million (1996)

Telephones - mobile cellular: 380,000 (1999)

Telephone system: large system by Third World standards but inadequate for present requirements and undergoing extensive upgrading; Internet access available
domestic: principal centers at Alexandria, Cairo, Al Mansurah, Ismailia, Suez, and Tanta are connected by coaxial cable and microwave radio relay
international: satellite earth stations - 2 Intelsat (Atlantic Ocean and Indian Ocean), 1 Arabsat, and 1 Inmarsat; 5 coaxial submarine cables; tropospheric scatter to Sudan; microwave radio relay to Israel; a participant in Medarabtel and a signatory to Project Oxygen (a global submarine fiber-optic cable system)

Radio broadcast stations: AM 42 (plus 15 repeater stations), FM 14, shortwave 3 (1999)

Radios: 20.5 million (1997)

Television broadcast stations: 51 (September 1995)

Televisions: 7.7 million (1997)