Telecommunications in Syria

The Syrian Ministry of Communications and Information Technology retains governmental authority over the internet in Syria. Prior to the Syrian civil war, telecommunications in Syria were slowly moving towards liberalization, with a number of licenses awarded and services launched in the Internet service provision market. The initiative reflected the government's change in attitude towards liberalization, following its promise to the European Union to liberalize markets by 2010. All other forms of fixed-line communications are provided by the state-owned operator, Syrian Telecom (STE).

International dialing code: +963

Landline telephones in use: 2.821 million (2021 est.).

Mobile phones in use: 16.991 million (2021 est.). The mobile operators are Syriatel, MTN Syria, and Wafa. There is mobile phone coverage in most parts of Syria providing access to 96% of the population. Call quality ranges from good to acceptable. Many international calls fail or are less clear over the mobile network compared to the landline network.

Radio: 14 AM, 11 FM, and 1 shortwave stations in 1998. The radio operators are the state owned Syrian Arab Republic Radio and Al-Madina FM, the first private radio station, launched in March 2005. Other private radios are for example: Melody FM, Sham FM, Radio Arabesque, Mix FM Syria, Rotana FM, Fuse FM, Farah FM). Private radio stations can also transmit news or political content.

Television: There are three television operators: the state owned ORTAS which operates five satellite channels (Syria TV, Syrian News Channel, Syrian Drama TV, Syrian Education TV, Noor Al-Sham), broadcasting in Arabic, English, and French and the private TV Stations like Sama TV or Massaya TV. There are no restrictions on the use of satellite receivers and many viewers watch pan-Arab TV stations. Roughly two-thirds of Syrian homes have a satellite dish providing access to foreign TV broadcasts.

Opposition satellite stations broadcast from abroad; they include London-based Barada TV, Orient TV, which operates from the UAE, and Istanbul-based Syria TV.

Country code: The top level domain for Syria is .sy.