Iraq Communications 2022, CIA World Factbook

total subscriptions: 2,699,758 (2020 est.)

subscriptions per 100 inhabitants: 7 (2020 est.)

Telephones - mobile cellular

total subscriptions: 37,475,325 (2020 est.)

subscriptions per 100 inhabitants: 93 (2020 est.)

Telecommunication systems

general assessment: Iraq continues to face a number of political and economic challenges, though increasing civil stability has made it easier for mobile and fixed-line operators to rebuild telecom services and infrastructure damaged during the last few years; the government extended the licenses held by the MNOs for an additional three years to compensate for the chaos and destruction caused between 2014 and 2017 when Islamic State held sway in many areas of the country; the companies have struggled to develop LTE services; most services are still based on GSM and 3G, except in the Kurdish region where LTE is more widely available (2022)

domestic: about 7 per 100 for fixed-line and 93 per 100 for mobile-cellular subscriptions (2020)

international: country code - 964; landing points for FALCON, and GBICS/MENA submarine cables providing connections to the Middle East, Africa and India; satellite earth stations - 4 (2 Intelsat - 1 Atlantic Ocean and 1 Indian Ocean, 1 Intersputnik - Atlantic Ocean region, and 1 Arabsat (inoperative)); local microwave radio relay connects border regions to Jordan, Kuwait, Syria, and Turkey (2019)

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 a downturn, particularly in mobile device production; progress toward 5G implementation has resumed, as well as upgrades to infrastructure; consumer spending on telecom services has increased due to the surge in demand for capacity and bandwidth; the crucial nature of telecom services as a tool for work and school from home is still evident, and the spike in this area has seen growth opportunities for development of new tools and increased services

Broadcast media

the number of private radio and TV stations has increased rapidly since 2003; government-owned TV and radio stations are operated by the publicly funded Iraqi Media Network; private broadcast media are mostly linked to political, ethnic, or religious groups; satellite TV is available to an estimated 70% of viewers and many of the broadcasters are based abroad; transmissions of multiple international radio broadcasters are accessible (2019)

Internet country code

.iq

Internet users

total: 24,133,502 (2020 est.)

percent of population: 60% (2020 est.)

Broadband - fixed subscriptions

total: 6,254,099 (2020 est.)

subscriptions per 100 inhabitants: 16 (2020 est.)

NOTE: The information regarding Iraq on this page is re-published from the 2022 World Fact Book of the United States Central Intelligence Agency and other sources. No claims are made regarding the accuracy of Iraq 2022 information contained here. All suggestions for corrections of any errors about Iraq 2022 should be addressed to the CIA or the source cited on each page.