7 million (1998 est.)

265,000 (August 1998)

inadequate but currently being modernized and
expanded with the goal of not only improving the efficiency and
increasing the volume of the urban service but also bringing telephone
service to several thousand villages, not presently connected
domestic: as a result of heavy investing in the telephone system since
1994, the number of long distance channels in the microwave radio
relay trunk has grown substantially; many villages have been brought
into the net; the number of main lines in the urban systems have
approximately doubled; and thousands of mobile cellular subscribers
are being served; moreover, the technical level of the system has been
raised by the installation of thousands of digital switches
international: HF radio and microwave radio relay to Turkey,
Azerbaijan, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Turkmenistan, Syria, Kuwait,
Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan; submarine fiber-optic cable to UAE with
access to Fiber-Optic Link Around the Globe (FLAG); Trans Asia Europe
(TAE) fiber-optic line runs from Azerbaijan through the northern
portion of Iran to Turkmenistan with expansion to Georgia and
Azerbaijan; satellite earth stations - 9 Intelsat and 4 Inmarsat;
Internet service available but limited to electronic mail to promote
Iranian culture

AM 72, FM 5, shortwave 5 (1998)

17 million (1997)

28 (plus 450 low-power repeaters)
(1997)

4.61 million (1997)

1 (1999)