Telecommunication systems: general assessment:
due to decades of conflict and poor infrastructure, the Democratic Republic of Congo’s telecom system is one of the least developed in the region; government aims to improve loose regulation through legislation; mobile networks are principal providers of telecom; LTE is geographically limited; investment from China and other foreign donors for fiber backbone; international bandwidth through WACS submarine cable; operator licensed to build landing station for submarine cable and tower upgrade that will provide competition in broadband, fixed, and mobile Internet services; operator added fiber link between Brazzaville and Kinshasa (2021)
(2020)domestic: fixed-line connections less than 1 per 100 persons; given the backdrop of a wholly inadequate fixed-line infrastructure, the use of mobile-cellular services is over 43 per 100 persons (2019)
international: country code - 243; ACE and WACS submarine cables to West and South Africa and Europe; satellite earth station - 1 Intelsat (Atlantic Ocean) (2019)
note: the COVID-19 pandemic continues to have a significant impact on production and supply chains globally; since 2020, some aspects of the telecom sector have experienced downturn, particularly in mobile device production; many network operators delayed upgrades to infrastructure; progress towards 5G implementation was postponed or slowed in some countries; consumer spending on telecom services and devices was affected by large-scale job losses and the consequent restriction on disposable incomes; the crucial nature of telecom services as a tool for work and school from home became evident, and received some support from governments
Definition: This entry includes a brief general assessment of a country's telecommunications system with details on the domestic and international components. The following terms and abbreviations are used throughout the entry:
Source: CIA World Factbook - This page was last updated on Saturday, September 18, 2021
