Telecommunications in Bolivia

Template:Short description Telecommunications in Bolivia includes radio, television, fixed and mobile telephones, and the Internet.

Radio and television

• Radio broadcast stations: AM 171, FM 73, shortwave 77 (1999).<ref name=CIAWorldFactbook-Bolivia/>
• Television broadcast stations: 48 (1997).<ref name=CIAWorldFactbook-Bolivia/>
• Bolivia has a large number of radio and TV stations broadcasting with private media outlets dominating.<ref name=CIAWorldFactbook-Bolivia/> There has been a recent, rapid growth of state-owned media, including a network of community radios.<ref name=BBCNews-2012/> State-owned and private radio and TV stations generally operate freely, although both pro-government and anti-government groups have attacked media outlets in response to their reporting (2010).<ref name=CIAWorldFactbook-Bolivia/>

Telephones

• International calling code: 591.<ref name=CIAWorldFactbook-Bolivia>"Communications: Bolivia", World Factbook, U.S. Central Intelligence Agency, 21 April 2015.</ref>
• Fixed lines: 880,600 lines in use, 80th in the world (2012).<ref name=CIAWorldFactbook-Bolivia/>
• Mobile cellular: 9.494 million telephones, 82nd in the world (2012).<ref name=CIAWorldFactbook-Bolivia/>
• Satellite earth stations: 1 Intelsat (Atlantic Ocean) (2011).<ref name=CIAWorldFactbook-Bolivia/>

The Bolivian National Telecommunications Company was privatized in 1995 but re-nationalized in 2007; the primary trunk system is being expanded and employs digital microwave radio relay; some areas are served by fiber-optic cable; system operations, reliability, and coverage have steadily improved. Most telephones are concentrated in La Paz, Santa Cruz, and other capital cities; mobile-cellular telephone use expanding rapidly and, in 2011, teledensity reached about 80 per 100 persons.<ref name=CIAWorldFactbook-Bolivia/>

Internet

• Internet hosts: 180,988 hosts, 75th in the world (2012).<ref>"Internet hosts", CIA World Factbook, U.S. Central Intelligence Agency, 2012, accessed 17 June 2013</ref>
• Internet users: 3.5 million users, 75th in the world; 34% of the population, 125th in the world (2012).<ref name=ITU-IndividualsUsingTheInternet>"Percentage of Individuals using the Internet 2000-2012", International Telecommunication Union (Geneva), June 2013, retrieved 22 June 2013</ref>
• Fixed access: 111,029 subscriptions, 99th in the world; 1.1% of population, 139th in the world (2014).<ref name=ITU-Stats>Statistics, International Telecommunication Union official website.</ref>
• Mobile access: 690,768 subscriptions, 83rd in the world; 6.7% of the population, 101st in the world (2014).<ref name=ITU-Stats/>
• Average connection speed: 1.1 Mbit/s, 54th in the world (2014).<ref name="report">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

|CitationClass=web }}</ref>

• IPv4 addresses: 561,920 (2012).<ref>"Allocation of IP addresses by Country", Country IP Blocks. Accessed on 2 April 2012. Note: Site is said to be updated daily.</ref>
• Top-level domain: .bo.

Internet censorship and surveillance

There are no government restrictions on access to the Internet. The Bolivian constitution and law provide for freedom of speech and press. Although the government generally respects these rights, in at least two cases in 2012, the government used the anti-racism law to restrict both rights.<ref name=USDOS-CRHRP-Bolivia-2012/> Some senior government officials also verbally harassed members of the press corps. Bolivian law prohibits arbitrary interference with privacy, family, home, or correspondence and the government generally respects these prohibitions, but there have been allegations that the government does not always respect the law. Defamation remains a criminal offence.

• Concerns were raised over a 2010 anti-discrimination law. Its "far-reaching and vague" language could be used to curb and punish legitimate journalism, warned the Committee to Protect Journalists.<ref name=BBCNews-2012>"Bolivia country profile: Media", BBC News', 2 August 2012.</ref>
• On 21 October 2012, Vice President Garcia Linera stated that the government records the names of people who insult President Morales on social media sites.<ref name=USDOS-CRHRP-Bolivia-2012>"Bolivia", Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for 2012, Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor, U.S. Department of State, 20 March 2013. Retrieved 2 January 2014.</ref>
• On 23 October 2012, the Constitutional Court struck down the libel law that allowed for detention of one month to four years for a person found guilty of insulting, defaming, or slandering public officials.<ref name=USDOS-CRHRP-Bolivia-2012/>
• On 2016, after the Constitutional Referendum, the government considered the win of the option of NO a "dirty game" but it avoid endangering his government decided to cancel a bill to restrict social networks when insulting President Evo Morales and his acts of corruption (like the Gabriela Zapata's case). But a law is going to be launched in April or May 2016.Template:Citation needed

See also

• Agency for the Development of the Information Society (ADSIB)

References

• Template:CIA World Factbook
• Template:US DOS

External links

• Agency for the Development of the Information Society (ADSIB)
• NIC Bolivia, registrar for the .bo top-level domain.