Telecommunications in Niger include radio, television, fixed and mobile telephones, and the Internet.

Radio and television

Radio stations Radio broadcasting is the broadcasting of audio signal, audio (sound), sometimes with related metadata, by radio waves to radio receivers belonging to a public audience. In terrestrial radio broadcasting the radio waves are broadcast by a lan ...

: * state-run TV station; 3 private TV stations provide a mix of local and foreign programming (2007);"Communications: Niger"
''World Factbook'', U.S. Central Intelligence Agency, 28 January 2014. Retrieved 28 January 2014. * 5 AM, 6 FM, and 4 shortwave stations (2001).

Radios Radio is the technology of communicating using radio waves. Radio waves are electromagnetic waves of frequency between 3 hertz (Hz) and 300 gigahertz (GHz). They are generated by an electronic device called a transmitter connected to ...

: * 680,000 (1997); * 500,000 (1992).

Television stations A television station is a set of equipment managed by a business, organisation or other entity such as an amateur television (ATV) operator, that transmits video content and audio content via radio waves directly from a transmitter on the earth's s ...

: state-run TV station; 3 private TV stations provide a mix of local and foreign programming (2007).

Television set A television set or television receiver (more commonly called TV, TV set, television, telly, or tele) is an electronic device for viewing and hearing television broadcasts, or as a computer monitor. It combines a tuner, display, and loudspeake ...

s: * 125,000 (1997); * 37,000 (1992). Because literacy levels in the country are low, radio is a key source for news and information.

Radio France Internationale Radio France Internationale, usually referred to as RFI, is the State media, state-owned international radio news network of France. With 59.5 million listeners in 2022, it is one of the most-listened-to international radio stations in the world ...

(RFI) is available in the capital,

Niamey Niamey () is the capital and largest city of Niger. As the Niamey Urban Community (, CUN), it is a Regions of Niger, first-level division of Niger, surrounded by the Tillabéri Region, in the western part of the country. Niamey lies on the Nige ...

, and in the Maradi and

Zinder Zinder (locally, ''Damagaram''), formerly also spelled Sinder, is the third largest city in Niger, with a population of 235,605 as by the 2012 census. It is situated east of the capital Niamey and north of the Nigerian city of Kano. History ...

regions. The

BBC World Service The BBC World Service is a British Public broadcasting, public service broadcaster owned and operated by the BBC. It is the world's largest external broadcaster in terms of reception area, language selection and audience reach. It broadcas ...

broadcasts in the capital (100.4 FM).

Press freedom and control

The state controls much of the nation's broadcasting, though private radio stations have proliferated. The media regulatory body, the National Observatory on Communication, and the Independent Nigerien Media Observatory for Ethics, a voluntary media watchdog organization, help to maintain the media environment in Niger. The government maintains a 200 million CFA (~US$400,000) press support fund, established by law and available to all media, to encourage support for education, information, entertainment, and promoting democracy."Niger profile: Media"
''BBC News'', 24 January 2013. Retrieved 9 February 2014. Press freedom "improved considerably" after

Mamadou Tandja Mamadou Tandja (1938 – 24 November 2020) was a Nigerien politician who was List of heads of state of Niger, President of Niger from 1999 to 2010. He was President of the National Movement for the Development of Society (MNSD) from 1991 to 1999 ...

was ousted as president in 2010. Media offences were decriminalised shortly afterwards. With the passage of the 2010 law protecting journalists from prosecution related to their work and President Issoufou's November 2011 endorsement of the Declaration of Table Mountain statement on press freedom in Africa (the first head of state to sign the statement), the country continues its efforts to improve press freedom. The Declaration of Table Mountain calls for the repeal of criminal

defamation Defamation is a communication that injures a third party's reputation and causes a legally redressable injury. The precise legal definition of defamation varies from country to country. It is not necessarily restricted to making assertions ...

and "

insult An insult is an expression, statement, or behavior that is often deliberately disrespectful, offensive, scornful, or derogatory towards an individual or a group. Insults can be intentional or unintentional, and they often aim to belittle, of ...

" laws and for moving

press freedom Freedom of the press or freedom of the media is the fundamental principle that communication and expression through various media, including printed and electronic media, especially published materials, should be considered a right to be exerc ...

higher on the African agenda.

Telephones

Calling code Telephone country codes are telephone number prefixes for reaching subscribers in foreign countries or areas by international direct dialing (IDD). Country codes are defined by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) in ITU-T standard ...

: +227

International call prefix International direct dialing (IDD) or international subscriber dialling (ISD) is placing an International call, international telephone call, dialed directly by a telephone subscriber, rather than by a switchboard operator, telephone operator. Sub ...

: 00 Main lines: * 100,500 lines in use, 145th in the world (2012); * 24,000 lines in use, 186th in the world (2005)."Communications: Niger"
''World Factbook'', U.S. Central Intelligence Agency, 10 February 2009. Retrieved 18 February 2009. Mobile cellular: * 5.4 million lines, 107th in the world (2012); * 900,000 lines, 139th in the world (2007). Telephone system: inadequate; small system of wire, radio telephone communications, and

microwave radio relay Microwave transmission is the Data transmission, transmission of information by electromagnetic waves with wavelengths in the microwave frequency range of 300 MHz to 300 GHz (1 m - 1 mm wavelength) of the electromagnetic spectrum ...

links concentrated in the southwestern area of Niger; domestic satellite system with 3 earth stations and 1 planned; combined fixed-line and mobile-cellular teledensity remains only about 30 per 100 persons despite a rapidly increasing cellular subscribership base (2010); United Nations estimates placed telephone subscribers at 0.2 per hundred in 2000, rising to 2.5 per hundred in 2006.Niger country profile
World Statistics Pocketbook, United Nations Statistics Division, 2007. Satellite earth stations: 2

Intelsat Intelsat S.A. (formerly Intel-Sat, Intelsat) is a Luxembourgish-American multinational satellite services provider with corporate headquarters in Luxembourg and administrative headquarters in Tysons, Virginia, United States. Originally formed ...

Atlantic Ocean The Atlantic Ocean is the second largest of the world's five borders of the oceans, oceanic divisions, with an area of about . It covers approximately 17% of Earth#Surface, Earth's surface and about 24% of its water surface area. During the ...

and 1

Indian Ocean The Indian Ocean is the third-largest of the world's five oceanic divisions, covering or approximately 20% of the water area of Earth#Surface, Earth's surface. It is bounded by Asia to the north, Africa to the west and Australia (continent), ...

) (2010). Communications cables: Africa Coast to Europe (ACE) via land links between Niger and the Atlantic coast.

Internet

Top-level domain A top-level domain (TLD) is one of the domain name, domains at the highest level in the hierarchical Domain Name System of the Internet after the root domain. The top-level domain names are installed in the DNS root zone, root zone of the nam ...

: .ne, controlled by the

parastatal A state-owned enterprise (SOE) is a business entity created or owned by a national or local government, either through an executive order or legislation. SOEs aim to generate profit for the government, prevent private sector monopolies, provide goo ...

telecom company, Niger Telecoms.

Internet users The Internet (or internet) is the global system of interconnected computer networks that uses the Internet protocol suite (TCP/IP) to communicate between networks and devices. It is a network of networks that consists of private, publ ...

: * 230,084 users, 150th in the world; 1.4% of the population, 205th in the world (2012).Calculated using penetration rate and population data fro
"Countries and Areas Ranked by Population: 2012"
, Population data, International Programs, U.S. Census Bureau, retrieved 26 June 2013"Percentage of Individuals using the Internet 2000–2012"
International Telecommunication Union (Geneva), June 2013, retrieved 22 June 2013 * 115,900 users, 155th in the world (2009); * 40,000 users, 173rd in the world (2006). Fixed broadband: 3,596 subscriptions, 166th in the world; less than 0.05% of the population, 185th in the world (2012)."Fixed (wired)-broadband subscriptions per 100 inhabitants 2012"
Dynamic Report, ITU ITC EYE,

International Telecommunication Union The International Telecommunication Union (ITU)In the other common languages of the ITU: * * is a list of specialized agencies of the United Nations, specialized agency of the United Nations responsible for many matters related to information ...

. Retrieved on 29 June 2013.

Wireless broadband Wireless broadband is a telecommunications technology that provides high-speed wireless Internet access or computer networking access over a wide area. The term encompasses both fixed and mobile broadband. The term broadband Originally the wo ...

: Unknown (2012)."Active mobile-broadband subscriptions per 100 inhabitants 2012"
Dynamic Report, ITU ITC EYE,

. Retrieved on 29 June 2013.

Internet hosts A network host is a computer or other device connected to a computer network. A host may work as a server offering information resources, services, and applications to users or other hosts on the network. Hosts are assigned at least one network a ...

: * 454 hosts, 185th in the world (2012); * 216 hosts, 176th in the world (2008).

IPv4 Internet Protocol version 4 (IPv4) is the first version of the Internet Protocol (IP) as a standalone specification. It is one of the core protocols of standards-based internetworking methods in the Internet and other packet-switched networks. ...

: 20,480 addresses allocated, less than 0.05% of the world total, 1.2 addresses per 1000 people (2012). The

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is the Earth, global intergovernmental organization established by the signing of the Charter of the United Nations, UN Charter on 26 June 1945 with the stated purpose of maintaining international peace and internationa ...

estimated that there were only 0.3 Internet users per 100 Nigeriens in 2006, up from less than 0.1 per 100 in 2000. As a point of reference, the

Millennium Development Goal In the United Nations, the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) were eight international development goals for the year 2015 created following the Millennium Summit, following the adoption of the United Nations Millennium Declaration. These ...

for least developed countries by 2015 is 8.2 Internet users per 100 population."Indicator 8.16, Internet users per 100 inhabitants: Niger"
Millennium Development Goals Indicators, United Nations Statistical Division. Retrieved 18 February 2009.

Internet censorship and surveillance

There are no government restrictions on access to the Internet or reports that the government monitors

e-mail Electronic mail (usually shortened to email; alternatively hyphenated e-mail) is a method of transmitting and receiving Digital media, digital messages using electronics, electronic devices over a computer network. It was conceived in the ...

or Internet

chat rooms The term chat room, or chatroom (and sometimes group chat; abbreviated as GC), is primarily used to describe any form of synchronous conferencing, occasionally even asynchronous conferencing. The term can thus mean any technology, ranging from ...

. Although individuals and groups can engage in the peaceful expression of views via the Internet, few residents have access to it."Niger"
''Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for 2012'', Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor, U.S. Department of State, 22 March 2013. Retrieved 9 February 2014. The constitution and law provide for

freedom of speech Freedom of speech is a principle that supports the freedom of an individual or a community to articulate their opinions and ideas without fear of retaliation, censorship, or legal sanction. The rights, right to freedom of expression has been r ...

and press, and the government generally respects these rights in practice. The constitution and law generally prohibit arbitrary interference with privacy, family, home, or correspondence, and the government generally respects these prohibitions.

References

* *

External links

Transports et télécoms (Statistical series)
, Institut National de la Statistique, Niger.
Does Digital Divide or Provide? The Impact of Cell Phones on Grain Markets in Niger
Jenny C. Aker, Center for Global Development, Tufts University, 1 October 2008.

(The Nigerian media landscape) , Djilali Benamrane, Afrik.com, 6 March 2002

Niger Information and Communications Technology Assessment
Yaovi Atohoun, Eileen Reynolds, Karl Stanzick, United States Education for Development and Democracy Initiative, 3 May 2001. {{Niger topics