Yemen Communications - 2024

Telephones - fixed lines

total subscriptions: 1.24 million (2021 est.)

subscriptions per 100 inhabitants: 4 (2021 est.)

Telephones - mobile cellular

total subscriptions: 15 million (2021 est.)

subscriptions per 100 inhabitants: 46 (2021 est.)

Telecommunication systems

general assessment: Yemen continues to provide an exceptionally challenging market for telcos; civil unrest has caused havoc and devastation across most parts of the country, while the threat of sanctions has also made it a challenging environment in which to operate; a large proportion of the population requires humanitarian assistance, and there is little disposable income for services upon which telcos can generate revenue; essential telecom infrastructure, such as mobile towers and fiber cabling, has often been targeted, destroyed, or damaged by the opposing sides in the ongoing conflict; these difficulties have proved to be a disincentive to telcos investing in infrastructure, with the result that the country lacks basic fixed-line infrastructure, and mobile services are based on outdated GSM; this has prevented the development of a mobile broadband sector, or the evolution of mobile data services; the ownership of telecommunication services, and the scrutiny of associated revenues and taxes, have become a political issue in Yemen; until telecom infrastructure can be improved across Yemen, and until civil unrest eases, there will be little progress for the sector (2022)

domestic: fixed-line teledensity is 4 per 100 but mobile cellular is 46 per 100 (2021)

international: country code - 967; landing points for the FALCON, SeaMeWe-5, Aden-Djibouti, and the AAE-1 international submarine cable connecting Europe, Africa, the Middle East, Asia and Southeast Asia; satellite earth stations - 3 Intelsat (2 Indian Ocean and 1 Atlantic Ocean), 1 Intersputnik (Atlantic Ocean region), and 2 Arabsat; microwave radio relay to Saudi Arabia and Djibouti (2020)

Broadcast media

state-run TV with 2 stations; state-run radio with 2 national radio stations and 5 local stations; stations from Oman and Saudi Arabia can be accessed

Internet country code

.ye

Internet users

total: 8,229,624 (2022 est.)

percent of population: 26.6% (2022 est.)

Broadband - fixed subscriptions

total: 391,000 (2020 est.)

subscriptions per 100 inhabitants: 1 (2020 est.)