Communications in Syria
Encyclopedia
Telecommunications in Syria is slowly moving towards liberalization, with a number of licenses awarded and services launched in the Internet service provision market. The initiative reflects the government’s change in attitude towards liberalization, following its promise to the European Union
to liberalize markets by 2010. All other forms of fixed-line communications are provided by the state owned operator, Syrian Telecom
(Syriatel or STE).
Landline telephones in use in 2008: 3,871,000.
Mobile phones in use in 2009: 9,697,000. The mobile operators are Syriatel
(http://www.syriatel.sy) and MTN (http://www.mtn.com.sy). There is mobile phone coverage in most parts of Syria providing access to 96% of the population. Call quality ranges from acceptable to poor. Many international calls fail or are less clear over the mobile network compared to the landline network.
Radio
: 14 AM, 11 FM, and 1 shortwave stations in 1998. The radio operators are the state owned Syrian Arab Republic Radio and Al-Madina FM, the first private radio station, launched in March 2005. Private radio stations cannot transmit news or political content.
Television
: There are two television operators: the state owned Syrian Television
which operates two domestic networks and a satellite channel, broadcasting in Arabic, English, and French and the private Al-Dunya TV. Private TV stations cannot transmit news or political content. There are no restrictions on the use of satellite receivers and many viewers watch pan-Arab TV stations. Roughly two-thirds of Syrian homes have a satellite dish providing access to foreign TV broadcasts.
: The top level domain for Syria is .sy
.
There were 4,469,000 Internet users in Syria as of June 2011 for a 19.8% Internet penetration rate. Syria ranks 12th out of 14 countries in the Middle East region, just behind Jordan (26.8%) and Lebanon (29.0%) and ahead of Yemen (9.7%) and Iraq (2.8%). Growth in the number of Internet users has been fairly steady since 2005:
!Year !! Internet users !! % of population
|-
|2000
| align=right | 30,000
| align=center | 0.2%
|-
|2002
| align=right | 220,000
| align=center | 1.2%
|-
|2005
| align=right | 800,000
| align=center | 4.2%
|-
|2009
| align=right | 3,565,000
| align=center | 16.4%
|-
|2010
| align=right | 3,935,000
| align=center | 17.7%
|-
|2011
| align=right | 4,469,000
| align=center | 19.8%
|}
There were 8,114 Syrian Internet hosts in 2010, placing Syria 133rd out of 231 in the world.
With a measured download speed that averages 768 kbit/s, the speed of the Internet in Syria is relatively slow compared to the world-wide average of 4.6 Mbit/s.
ADSL service in Syria
has been available since 2003. However, ADSL is not available in all locations and, where available, the local telco may not have enough ports for immediate activation. Through 2009 broadband Internet access had reached less than 0.2% of the Syrian population.
The 3G
wireless Internet is available in all major cities as well as cities with significant tourism. 3.5G EDGE
wireless Internet is available through mobile network operators, SyriaTel and MTN. Wireless Internet is accessed using a USB stick purchased from the mobile operators. In addition, 3G SIM cards for use on mobile phones may be purchased with a data plan. However, only WCDMA phones support data at the moment.
High-speed Internet is also available through many Internet cafes.
in August 2009. Syria has been on Reporters Without Borders
Enemy of the Internet list since 2006 when the list was established. In 2009, the Committee to Protect Journalists named Syria number three in a list of the ten worst countries in which to be a blogger, given the arrests, harassment, and restrictions which online writers in Syria have faced.
Syria has banned websites for political reasons and arrested people accessing them. In addition to filtering a wide range of Web content, the Syrian government monitors Internet use very closely and has detained citizens "for expressing their opinions or reporting information online." Vague and broadly worded laws invite government abuse and have prompted Internet users to engage in self-censoring and self-monitoring to avoid the state's ambiguous grounds for arrest.
In February 2011 Syria stopped filtering YouTube
, Facebook
, and Twitter
.
Syrian Telecom
uses a caching proxy and as a result updates to news agency
sites may not appear in Syria for many hours.
Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) is blocked completely and requires a proxy or Virtual Private Network
(VPN) to work around it. However, VoIP operators that utilize non-standard Session Initiation Protocol
(SIP
) ports may function behind Syria's proxy. VPN Access using the Point-to-Point Tunneling Protocol
(PPTP) is also blocked.
Internet cafes, which are wide spread and accessible to the public for a fee, can be used to access blocked sites. However, more restrictions have been placed on internet cafes, all public internet centers need operating approval from the security services, are required to keep detailed records of their customers' surfing habits, and people have been arrested after accessing blocked content.
European Union
The European Union is an economic and political union of 27 independent member states which are located primarily in Europe. The EU traces its origins from the European Coal and Steel Community and the European Economic Community , formed by six countries in 1958...
to liberalize markets by 2010. All other forms of fixed-line communications are provided by the state owned operator, Syrian Telecom
Syrian Telecom
Syrian Telecom is a telecommunications company in Syria. The company is affiliated with the government of Syria....
(Syriatel or STE).
Telecommunications system
International dialing code: +963Landline telephones in use in 2008: 3,871,000.
Mobile phones in use in 2009: 9,697,000. The mobile operators are Syriatel
Syriatel
Syriatel Mobile Telecom PLCfounded in Nov 2001Capital: SYP 3.350 billionCommon shares: 134 millionStock Par value: SYP25 Syriatel leads the Syrian mobile telecommunication market since 2000, Syriatel believes that the first responsibility is to offer the customers a wide array of high quality...
(http://www.syriatel.sy) and MTN (http://www.mtn.com.sy). There is mobile phone coverage in most parts of Syria providing access to 96% of the population. Call quality ranges from acceptable to poor. Many international calls fail or are less clear over the mobile network compared to the landline network.
Radio
Radio
Radio is the transmission of signals through free space by modulation of electromagnetic waves with frequencies below those of visible light. Electromagnetic radiation travels by means of oscillating electromagnetic fields that pass through the air and the vacuum of space...
: 14 AM, 11 FM, and 1 shortwave stations in 1998. The radio operators are the state owned Syrian Arab Republic Radio and Al-Madina FM, the first private radio station, launched in March 2005. Private radio stations cannot transmit news or political content.
Television
Television
Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...
: There are two television operators: the state owned Syrian Television
Syrian Television
Syrian Television is the official television broadcaster of Syria. It was formed in 1960, when Syria and Egypt were part of the United Arab Republic...
which operates two domestic networks and a satellite channel, broadcasting in Arabic, English, and French and the private Al-Dunya TV. Private TV stations cannot transmit news or political content. There are no restrictions on the use of satellite receivers and many viewers watch pan-Arab TV stations. Roughly two-thirds of Syrian homes have a satellite dish providing access to foreign TV broadcasts.
Internet
Country codeCountry code
Country codes are short alphabetic or numeric geographical codes developed to represent countries and dependent areas, for use in data processing and communications. Several different systems have been developed to do this. The best known of these is ISO 3166-1...
: The top level domain for Syria is .sy
.sy
.sy is the Internet country code top-level domain for Syria.Reserved 2nd level domains:.edu.sy, .gov.sy, .net.sy, .mil.sy, .com.sy, .org.sy, .news.sy- Sponsoring organisation :Syrian Telecommunications Establishment Mazza Street...
.
There were 4,469,000 Internet users in Syria as of June 2011 for a 19.8% Internet penetration rate. Syria ranks 12th out of 14 countries in the Middle East region, just behind Jordan (26.8%) and Lebanon (29.0%) and ahead of Yemen (9.7%) and Iraq (2.8%). Growth in the number of Internet users has been fairly steady since 2005:
!Year !! Internet users !! % of population
|-
|2000
| align=right | 30,000
| align=center | 0.2%
|-
|2002
| align=right | 220,000
| align=center | 1.2%
|-
|2005
| align=right | 800,000
| align=center | 4.2%
|-
|2009
| align=right | 3,565,000
| align=center | 16.4%
|-
|2010
| align=right | 3,935,000
| align=center | 17.7%
|-
|2011
| align=right | 4,469,000
| align=center | 19.8%
|}
There were 8,114 Syrian Internet hosts in 2010, placing Syria 133rd out of 231 in the world.
With a measured download speed that averages 768 kbit/s, the speed of the Internet in Syria is relatively slow compared to the world-wide average of 4.6 Mbit/s.
ADSL service in Syria
Syria
Syria , officially the Syrian Arab Republic , is a country in Western Asia, bordering Lebanon and the Mediterranean Sea to the West, Turkey to the north, Iraq to the east, Jordan to the south, and Israel to the southwest....
has been available since 2003. However, ADSL is not available in all locations and, where available, the local telco may not have enough ports for immediate activation. Through 2009 broadband Internet access had reached less than 0.2% of the Syrian population.
The 3G
3G
3G or 3rd generation mobile telecommunications is a generation of standards for mobile phones and mobile telecommunication services fulfilling the International Mobile Telecommunications-2000 specifications by the International Telecommunication Union...
wireless Internet is available in all major cities as well as cities with significant tourism. 3.5G EDGE
Edge
- Aviation :* Leading edge, a line connecting the forward-most points of a wing's profile* Trailing edge, the rear edge of the wing* Zivko Edge 540, an aerobatic aircraft- Mathematics, science and technology :...
wireless Internet is available through mobile network operators, SyriaTel and MTN. Wireless Internet is accessed using a USB stick purchased from the mobile operators. In addition, 3G SIM cards for use on mobile phones may be purchased with a data plan. However, only WCDMA phones support data at the moment.
High-speed Internet is also available through many Internet cafes.
Internet Service Providers (ISPs)
ISPs in Syria include:- SAWA Internet Provider
- Syrian Telecommunications Establishment (STE)
- Runnet
- AYA
- E-LCOM
- SCS
- ZAD
- Teranet
- INETInetInet, previously known as Island ECN, was an electronic trading platform. It was renamed to Inet after the Island Exchange was merged with Instinet in 2002. It was acquired by NASDAQ in 2005....
- Extra
Internet censorship
Internet filtering in Syria was found to be pervasive in the political and Internet tools areas, and selective in the social and conflict/security areas by the OpenNet InitiativeOpenNet Initiative
The OpenNet Initiative is a joint project whose goal is to monitor and report on internet filtering and surveillance practices by nations. The project employs a number of technical means, as well as an international network of investigators, to determine the extent and nature of government-run...
in August 2009. Syria has been on Reporters Without Borders
Reporters Without Borders
Reporters Without Borders is a France-based international non-governmental organization that advocates freedom of the press. It was founded in 1985, by Robert Ménard, Rony Brauman and the journalist Jean-Claude Guillebaud. Jean-François Julliard has served as Secretary General since 2008...
Enemy of the Internet list since 2006 when the list was established. In 2009, the Committee to Protect Journalists named Syria number three in a list of the ten worst countries in which to be a blogger, given the arrests, harassment, and restrictions which online writers in Syria have faced.
Syria has banned websites for political reasons and arrested people accessing them. In addition to filtering a wide range of Web content, the Syrian government monitors Internet use very closely and has detained citizens "for expressing their opinions or reporting information online." Vague and broadly worded laws invite government abuse and have prompted Internet users to engage in self-censoring and self-monitoring to avoid the state's ambiguous grounds for arrest.
In February 2011 Syria stopped filtering YouTube
YouTube
YouTube is a video-sharing website, created by three former PayPal employees in February 2005, on which users can upload, view and share videos....
Facebook
Facebook is a social networking service and website launched in February 2004, operated and privately owned by Facebook, Inc. , Facebook has more than 800 million active users. Users must register before using the site, after which they may create a personal profile, add other users as...
, and Twitter
Twitter
Twitter is an online social networking and microblogging service that enables its users to send and read text-based posts of up to 140 characters, informally known as "tweets".Twitter was created in March 2006 by Jack Dorsey and launched that July...
.
Syrian Telecom
Syrian Telecom
Syrian Telecom is a telecommunications company in Syria. The company is affiliated with the government of Syria....
uses a caching proxy and as a result updates to news agency
News agency
A news agency is an organization of journalists established to supply news reports to news organizations: newspapers, magazines, and radio and television broadcasters. Such an agency may also be referred to as a wire service, newswire or news service.-History:The oldest news agency is Agence...
sites may not appear in Syria for many hours.
Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) is blocked completely and requires a proxy or Virtual Private Network
Virtual private network
A virtual private network is a network that uses primarily public telecommunication infrastructure, such as the Internet, to provide remote offices or traveling users access to a central organizational network....
(VPN) to work around it. However, VoIP operators that utilize non-standard Session Initiation Protocol
Session Initiation Protocol
The Session Initiation Protocol is an IETF-defined signaling protocol widely used for controlling communication sessions such as voice and video calls over Internet Protocol . The protocol can be used for creating, modifying and terminating two-party or multiparty sessions...
(SIP
SIP
-Business and economics:* Sales Incentive Plan and Share Incentive Plan, employee motivation schemes* Systematic Investment Plan, investment strategy...
) ports may function behind Syria's proxy. VPN Access using the Point-to-Point Tunneling Protocol
Point-to-point tunneling protocol
The Point-to-Point Tunneling Protocol is a method for implementing virtual private networks. PPTP uses a control channel over TCP and a GRE tunnel operating to encapsulate PPP packets....
(PPTP) is also blocked.
Internet cafes, which are wide spread and accessible to the public for a fee, can be used to access blocked sites. However, more restrictions have been placed on internet cafes, all public internet centers need operating approval from the security services, are required to keep detailed records of their customers' surfing habits, and people have been arrested after accessing blocked content.