Pitcairn Islands
general assessment: only party line telephone
service is available for this small, closely related community
domestic: party line service only
international: country code - 672; satellite earth station (Inmarsat)
Poland
general assessment: underdeveloped and outmoded system in the
process of being overhauled; partial privatization of the
state-owned telephone monopoly is underway; the long waiting list
for main line telephone service has resulted in a boom in mobile
cellular telephone use
domestic: cable, open-wire, and microwave radio relay; 3 cellular
networks; local exchanges 56.6% digital
international: country code - 48; satellite earth stations - 2
Intelsat, NA Eutelsat, 2 Inmarsat (Atlantic and Indian Ocean
regions), and 1 Intersputnik (Atlantic Ocean region)
Portugal
general assessment: Portugal's telephone system has
achieved a state-of-the-art network with broadband, high-speed
capabilities and a main line telephone density of 53%
domestic: integrated network of coaxial cables, open-wire, microwave
radio relay, and domestic satellite earth stations
international: country code - 351; 6 submarine cables; satellite
earth stations - 3 Intelsat (2 Atlantic Ocean and 1 Indian Ocean),
NA Eutelsat; tropospheric scatter to Azores; note - an earth station
for Inmarsat (Atlantic Ocean region) is planned
Puerto Rico
general assessment: modern system integrated with that
of the US by high-capacity submarine cable and Intelsat with
high-speed data capability
domestic: digital telephone system; cellular telephone service
international: country code - 1-787, 939; satellite earth station -
1 Intelsat; submarine cable to US
Qatar
general assessment: modern system centered in Doha
domestic: NA
international: country code - 974; tropospheric scatter to Bahrain;
microwave radio relay to Saudi Arabia and UAE; submarine cable to
Bahrain and UAE; satellite earth stations - 2 Intelsat (1 Atlantic
Ocean and 1 Indian Ocean) and 1 Arabsat
Reunion
general assessment: adequate system; principal center is
Saint-Denis
domestic: modern open-wire and microwave radio relay network
international: country code - 262; radiotelephone communication to
Comoros, France, Madagascar; new microwave route to Mauritius;
satellite earth station - 1 Intelsat (Indian Ocean); fiber optic
submarine cable (SAT-3/WASC/SAFE) provides connectivity to Europe
and Asia
Romania
general assessment: poor domestic service, but improving
domestic: 90% of telephone network is automatic; trunk network is
mostly microwave radio relay, with some fiber-optic cable; about
one-third of exchange capacity is digital; roughly 3,300 villages
have no service
international: country code - 40; satellite earth station - 1
Intelsat; new digital, international, direct-dial exchanges operate
in Bucharest; note - Romania is an active participant in several
international telecommunication network projects (1999)
Russia
general assessment: the telephone system underwent
significant changes in the 1990s; there are more than 1,000
companies licensed to offer communication services; access to
digital lines has improved, particularly in urban centers; Internet
and e-mail services are improving; Russia has made progress toward
building the telecommunications infrastructure necessary for a
market economy; however, a large demand for main line service
remains unsatisfied
domestic: cross-country digital trunk lines run from Saint
Petersburg to Khabarovsk, and from Moscow to Novorossiysk; the
telephone systems in 60 regional capitals have modern digital
infrastructures; cellular services, both analog and digital, are
available in many areas; in rural areas, the telephone services are
still outdated, inadequate, and low density
international: country code - 7; Russia is connected internationally
by three undersea fiber-optic cables; digital switches in several
cities provide more than 50,000 lines for international calls;
satellite earth stations provide access to Intelsat, Intersputnik,
Eutelsat, Inmarsat, and Orbita systems
Rwanda
general assessment: telephone system primarily serves
business and government
domestic: the capital, Kigali, is connected to the centers of the
prefectures by microwave radio relay and, recently, by cellular
telephone service; much of the network depends on wire and HF
radiotelephone
international: country code - 250; international connections employ
microwave radio relay to neighboring countries and satellite
communications to more distant countries; satellite earth stations -
1 Intelsat (Indian Ocean) in Kigali (includes telex and telefax
service)
Saint Helena
general assessment: can communicate worldwide
domestic: automatic network
international: country code - 290; HF radiotelephone from Saint
Helena to Ascension Island, which is a major coaxial submarine cable
relay point between South Africa, Portugal, and UK; satellite earth
stations - 2 Intelsat (Atlantic Ocean)