Egypt vs. Sudan
Telecommunications
| Egypt | Sudan | |
|---|---|---|
| Telephones - main lines in use | total subscriptions: 8,760,436 subscriptions per 100 inhabitants: 8.61 (2019 est.) | total subscriptions: 137,842 subscriptions per 100 inhabitants: less than 1 (2019 est.) |
| Telephones - mobile cellular | total subscriptions: 95,340,262 subscriptions per 100 inhabitants: 93.68 (2019 est.) | total subscriptions: 33,014,160 subscriptions per 100 inhabitants: 74.46 (2019 est.) |
| Internet country code | .eg | .sd |
| Internet users | total: 46,644,728 percent of population: 46.92% (July 2018 est.) | total: 13,311,404 percent of population: 30.87% (July 2018 est.) |
| Telecommunication systems | general assessment: with a large urbanized population and effective competition, Egypt has one of the largest fixed-line and mobile telecom markets in North Africa; investment has spurred broadband infrastructure and migration to digital economy; operator has ambitions for satellite/smart infrastructure based on 5G and fiber networks; Egypt's geographical position enabled inexpensive bandwidth through fiber and cable connection to Europe, Middle East, and Asia; rural Internet connections continue to suffer from poor quality and low speeds; government disrupted service during political crises (2021) (2020) domestic: fixed-line 9 per 100, mobile-cellular 95 per 100 (2019) international: country code - 20; landing points for Aletar, Africa-1, FEA, Hawk, IMEWE, and the SEA-ME-WE-3 & 4 submarine cable networks linking to Asia, Africa, the Middle East, and Australia ; satellite earth stations - 4 (2 Intelsat - Atlantic Ocean and Indian Ocean, 1 Arabsat, and 1 Inmarsat); tropospheric scatter to Sudan; microwave radio relay to Israel; a participant in Medarabtel (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 | general assessment: well-equipped system by regional standards with ongoing upgrades; despite economic challenges, government continues to boost mobile infrastructure through build-out of fiber-broadband network across country; economic climate has not encouraged client growth in telecom, but some investment has been made to build mobile towers and expand LTE services; growth of e-money services; 2020 launch of Chinese-based satellite to develop space technology sector; interim constitution safeguards rights and freedoms, though some Internet users continue to face harassment for activities; importer of broadcasting equipment from UAE and China (2021) (2020)domestic: consists of microwave radio relay, cable, fiber optic, radiotelephone communications, tropospheric scatter, and a domestic satellite system with 14 earth stations; teledensity fixed-line less than 1 per 100 and mobile-cellular 77 telephones per 100 persons (2019) international: country code - 249; landing points for the EASSy, FALCON and SAS-1,-2, fiber-optic submarine cable systems linking Africa, the Middle East, Indian Ocean Islands and Asia; satellite earth stations - 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 |
| Broadband - fixed subscriptions | total: 7,598,941 subscriptions per 100 inhabitants: 7.47 (2019 est.) | total: 32,762 subscriptions per 100 inhabitants: less than 1 (2018 est.) |
| Broadcast media | mix of state-run and private broadcast media; state-run TV operates 2 national and 6 regional terrestrial networks, as well as a few satellite channels; dozens of private satellite channels and a large number of Arabic satellite channels are available for free; some limited satellite services are also available via subscription; state-run radio operates about 30 stations belonging to 8 networks; privately-owned radio includes 8 major stations, 4 of which belong to 1 network (2019) | the Sudanese Government directly controls TV and radio, requiring that both media reflect government policies; TV has a permanent military censor; a private radio station is in operation (2019) |
Source: CIA Factbook
