Venezuela Communications 2021, CIA World Factbook

total subscriptions: 5,351,312

subscriptions per 100 inhabitants: 18.67 (2019 est.)

Telephones - mobile cellular

total subscriptions: 13,476,287

subscriptions per 100 inhabitants: 47.01 (2019 est.)

Telecommunication systems

general assessment:

telecom industry struggling due to political upheaval in the country; poor quality of service in many areas of the country due to decrepit state of fixed-line network and operators’ inability to pay for equipment from foreign vendors; operator suffering from stolen or damaged infrastructure; many consumers favor mobile service, and cancel their fixed-line services; popularity of social networks caused growth in mobile data traffic; LTE coverage to about half of the population; government launched National Fiber Optic backbone project in 2019; national satellite drifted off course and became non-operational; American company closed a telecom service due to government sanction and a Chilean company later acquired the service; Internet freedom deteriorating amid crisis, with frequent disruptions to service and monitoring; importer of broadcasting equipment from the USA (2021)

(2020)

domestic: two domestic satellite systems with three earth stations; recent substantial improvement in telephone service in rural areas; 3 major providers operate in the mobile market and compete with state-owned company; fixed-line 19 per 100 and mobile-cellular telephone subscribership about 58 per 100 persons (2019)

international: country code - 58; landing points for the Venezuela Festoon, ARCOS, PAN-AM, SAC, GlobeNet, ALBA-1 and Americas II submarine cable system providing connectivity to the Caribbean, Central and South America, and US; satellite earth stations - 1 Intelsat (Atlantic Ocean) and 1 PanAmSat (2020)

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

government supervises a mixture of state-run and private broadcast media; 13 public service networks, 61 privately owned TV networks, a privately owned news channel with limited national coverage, and a government-backed Pan-American channel; state-run radio network includes roughly 65 news stations and another 30 stations targeted at specific audiences; state-sponsored community broadcasters include 235 radio stations and 44 TV stations; the number of private broadcast radio stations has been declining, but many still remain in operation

Internet country code

.ve

Internet users

total: 21,354,499

percent of population: 72% (July 2018 est.)

Broadband - fixed subscriptions

total: 2,560,994

subscriptions per 100 inhabitants: 8.93 (2019 est.)

NOTE: The information regarding Venezuela on this page is re-published from the 2021 World Fact Book of the United States Central Intelligence Agency and other sources. No claims are made regarding the accuracy of Venezuela 2021 information contained here. All suggestions for corrections of any errors about Venezuela 2021 should be addressed to the CIA or the source cited on each page.