| Telephones - main lines in use | total subscriptions: 461,289 subscriptions per 100 inhabitants: 19.15 (2019 est.) |
| Telephones - mobile cellular | total subscriptions: 3,917,571 subscriptions per 100 inhabitants: 162.6 (2019 est.) |
| Telecommunication systems | general assessment: telecom infrastructure in Qatar demonstrated resilience during the pandemic, following surge in Internet usage; highest fixed-line and mobile penetrations in Middle East with almost 100% LTE coverage; operator deployed 5G across the country with positive subscribership, primarily around Doha; largest user of the Internet in the Middle East; importer of broadcasting equipment from China (2021) (2020)domestic: fixed-line 16 per 100 and mobile-cellular telephone subscribership 138 telephones per 100 persons (209) international: country code - 974; landing points for the Qatar-UAE Submarine Cable System, AAE-1, FOG, GBICS/East North Africa MENA and the FALCON submarine cable network that provides links to Asia, Africa, the Middle East, Europe and Southeast Asia; tropospheric scatter to Bahrain; microwave radio relay to Saudi Arabia and the UAE; satellite earth stations - 2 Intelsat (1 Atlantic Ocean and 1 Indian Ocean) and 1 Arabsat; retains full ownership of two commercial satellites, Es'hailSat 1 and 2 (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 |
| Broadcast media | TV and radio broadcast licensing and access to local media markets are state controlled; home of the satellite TV channel Al-Jazeera, which was originally owned and financed by the Qatari government but has evolved to independent corporate status; Al-Jazeera claims editorial independence in broadcasting; local radio transmissions include state, private, and international broadcasters on FM frequencies in Doha; in August 2013, Qatar's satellite company Es'hailSat launched its first communications satellite Es'hail 1 (manufactured in the US), which entered commercial service in December 2013 to provide improved television broadcasting capability and expand availability of voice and Internet; Es'hailSat launched its second commercial satellite in 2018 with aid of SpaceX (2019) |
| Internet country code | .qa |
| Internet users | total: 2,355,297 percent of population: 99.65% (July 2018 est.) |
| Broadband - fixed subscriptions | total: 284,679 subscriptions per 100 inhabitants: 11.82 (2019 est.) |
Source: CIA World Factbook
This page was last updated on September 18, 2021
