Introduction
How is the communication system in Bolivia? Here, Broadcast media include large number of radio and TV stations broadcasting with private media outlets dominating; state-owned and private radio and TV stations generally operating freely, although both pro-government and anti-government groups have attacked media outlets in response to their reporting (2019). What about Telecommuication systems and Internet? Explore this article to find out more.
More about communication in Bolivia
| Internet country code | .bo |
|---|---|
| Broadband - fixed subscriptions | |
| Total | 931,918 (2020 est.) |
| Subscriptions per 100 inhabitants | 8 (2020 est.) |
| Internet users | |
| Total | 7.92 million (2021 est.) |
| Percent of population | 66% (2021 est.) |
| Telecommunication systems | |
| General assessment | The structure of Bolivia’s fixed telecom market is different from most other countries; local services are primarily provided by 15 telecom cooperatives; these are non-profit-making companies privately owned and controlled by their users; since the market was liberalized, the cooperatives have also provided long-distance telephony, while several also offer broadband and pay TV service; they have invested in network upgrades in a bid to improve services for customers, and to expand their footprints; Bolivia has a multi-carrier system wherein consumers can choose a long-distance carrier for each call by dialing the carrier’s prefix; several operators have also adopted fixed-wireless technologies, and some rent fiber-optic capacity; the fixed broadband services remain expensive, though the cost of bandwidth is only a fraction of what it was only a few years ago; services are still unavailable in many rural and remote areas, and even in some of the major urban areas; being a landlocked country, Bolivia had no direct access to submarine cable networks, and relies on satellite services or terrestrial links across neighboring countries; in September 2020 a new cable running via Peru, has increased capacity and contributed to a dramatic fall in end-user prices; fixed broadband services are fast migrating from DSL to fiber, while there are also cable broadband services available in some major cities; in 2007 the focus was on providing telecom services in rural areas under a project known as ‘Territory with Total Coverage’; this project aims to increase telecom coverage through mobile rather than through fixed networks; Bolivia has almost twenty times as many mobile phone subscribers as fixed line connections, and the trend towards fixed-mobile substitution continues; all the mobile companies offer 3G and LTE services; due to the poor quality, high cost, and poor reach of DSL, mobile networks have become the principal platform for voice services and data access; by early 2021 companies’ networks reached more than 95% of the population; about 92% of all internet accesses are via smartphones (2021) |
| Domestic | 4 per 100 fixed-line, mobile-cellular telephone use expanding rapidly and teledensity stands at 100 per 100 persons; most telephones are concentrated in La Paz, Santa Cruz, and other capital cities (2021) |
| International | Country code - 591; Bolivia has no direct access to submarine cable networks and must therefore connect to the rest of the world either via satellite or through terrestrial links across neighboring countries; satellite earth station - 1 Intelsat (Atlantic Ocean) (2019) |
| Telephones - fixed lines | |
| Total subscriptions | 550,000 (2021 est.) |
| Subscriptions per 100 inhabitants | 5 (2021 est.) |
| Telephones - mobile cellular | |
| Total subscriptions | 12.034 million (2021 est.) |
| Subscriptions per 100 inhabitants | 100 (2021 est.) |
All Important Facts about Bolivia
Want to know more about Bolivia? Check all different factbooks for Bolivia below.
