Communications in Libya describes the overall environment for the radio, television, telephone, Internet, and newspaper markets in Libya.

The control of the media by Colonel Gaddafi's regime came to an end after the fall of Tripoli in August 2011, resulting in a mushrooming of new media outlets. Journalists are experiencing unprecedented freedom. Libya has not yet adopted a media law, and there are no clear legal guidelines on libel and slander, or a code of ethics for journalists.^[1]

Radio [edit]

Libyan Radio and TV (LRT) is the successor to the Gaddafi-era state broadcaster. Dozens of radio outlets, many privately owned, broadcast from Libyan cities and from Middle East media hubs. The BBC World Service Arabic broadcasts on 91.5 FM in Tripoli, Benghazi, and Misrata.^[1]

Radio stations

• Libyan Radio and Television (LRT) - state-run, operates Radio Libya, Al-Shababiyah, Al-Itha'ah al-Wataniya
• Voice of Free Libya - Benghazi-based, Al-Bayda, Misrata
• Libya FM - Egypt-based
• Tribute FM: An English-language internet station broadcasting from Benghazi. Website

Radios

1.35 million (1997)^{[2][dated info]}

Television [edit]

Libyan Radio and TV (LRT) is the successor to the Gaddafi-era state broadcaster. More than 20 TV stations, many privately owned, broadcast from Libyan cities and from Middle East media hubs.^[1]

Television receivers

889,232 receivers, 149 per 1000 inhabitants (2005)^{[3][dated info]}

Television broadcast stations

• Libya TV - aka Libya al-Ahrar; Qatar-based satellite station, launched in April 2011. Homepage
• Libya al-hurra TV
• Libya Al-Wataniya TV - state-run
• Libya Radio and Television (LRT) - state-run
• Al-Asimah TV - private

Telephones [edit]

In the course of the 2011 Libyan civil war, the government severed the physical communications links between the rebel-held east and the rest of Libya. However, the newer and less centralised Libyana network held copies of the HLR and engineers were able to restore some local services. With some assistance from the international community, and funded by an expatriate Libyan, a limited international service became available in mid-April. NTC officials were reported to be negotiating with Qtel, the Qatari-owned service provider, to restore full service to the rebel-held areas.^[4]

Telephones

• 1,228,300 fixed subscriptions, 19.33 per 100 inhabitants (2010)^[5]
• 10.9 million mobile cellular, 66th in the world (2009)^[6]

Mobile telephone operators

• Al Madar
• Libyana

International dialing code: +218^[6]

Internet [edit]

Facebook, Twitter and YouTube played important roles in bringing news to the world audience during the revolt. Facebook remains a favorite platform to view and comment on the news.^[1]

Internet users

904,604 (2010)^[7]

Fixed broadband Internet subscriptions

72,800 subscriptions, 98th in the world, 1.5 subscriptions per 100 inhabitants (2010)^[8]

Internet hosts

17,787 hosts, 122nd in the world (2011)^[9]

IPv4 addresses allocated

299,008 addresses, 105th in the world, 44.4 per 1000 inhabitants (2012)^[10]

Top-level domain

.ly^[6]

The Internet and telecommunications are mainly run by the government through a semi-private telecommunication company Libya Telecom & Technology. The company moderates and controls the use of the Internet in Libya.

Internet Service Providers (ISPs)

• 23 ISPs (1999)^{[dated info]}
• Libya Telecom & Technology (LTT) - a state-owned telecommunications company
• Al-Manarah - leading Libyan online community
• All Libyan Blogs - blog aggregator
• Bayt Al Shams (BsISP)
• Modern World Telecom (MWC)

The Internet and the civil war [edit]

In 2006 Reporters Without Borders (RWB) removed Libya from their list of Internet enemies after a fact-finding visit found no evidence of Internet censorship.^[11] The OpenNet Initiative’s 2007–2008 technical test results contradicted that conclusion, however.^[12] In 2009 ONI classified Internet filtering in Libya as selective in the political area and as no evidence in social, conflict/security, and Internet tools.^[13]

Prior to the civil war, Internet filtering under the Gaddafi regime had become more selective, focusing on a few political opposition Web sites. This relatively lenient filtering policy coincided with what was arguably a trend toward greater openness and increasing freedom of the press. However, the legal and political climate continued to encourage self-censorship in online media.^[12]

On 18 February 2011, the day after the first protests that were to lead to the 2011 Libyan civil war, Libya appeared to have withdrawn all of its BGP prefix announcements from the Internet for a short period, cutting it off from the rest of the global Internet. The prefix were re-advertised six hours later.^[14]

There was no traffic for several hours on 19 and 20 February. Service picked up over the next few days to almost normal levels until, at 6:00am on 3 March, traffic effectively ceased (except for very limited satellite links). The government had severed the underwater backbone fibre-optic cable that runs along the coast, linking networks in the east and servers in the west of the country. Engineers reckon the break is between the cities of Misrata and Khoms, and may be a physical or electronic rupture.^[4]

From 10 July traffic began increasing again, and after a brief shutdown on 15 July, it was reaching about 15% of its pre-17 February levels up to 22 August, the day Tripoli fell to the rebels. Traffic began increasing again at that point, and as of 2 September was reaching daily levels in excess of 50% and often as high as 75% of pre-war levels.^[15]

The overthrow of the Gaddafi regime in the fall of 2011 ended an era of censorship. In 2012 RWB removed Libya from its list of countries under surveillance.^[16]

Newspapers [edit]

Following the fall of the Gaddafi regime in August 2011 former state-affiliated dailies have closed and new titles have appeared, many short-lived. Benghazi has emerged as a publishing hub. There are as yet few daily newspapers and print runs are small.^[1]

Daily newspapers

• Al-Bilad - private daily
• Brnieq
• February - state-owned daily
• Libya Herald - private online daily
• New Quryna - Benghazi-based private daily

Weekly newspapers

• Mayadin - private weekly
• Tripoli Post - English-language weekly Homepage

News agencies

• Libyan News Agency (Arabic: وكالة الانباء الليبية‎ ("Lana"), state-run, formerly Jamahiriya News Agency ("Jana")
• Mathaba News Agency - independent news agency of Muammar Gaddafi's Green Charter Movement
• Al-Tadamun - private news agency, Benghazi
• Tawasul - private news agency, via social media

References [edit]

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Zworykin Network topology links nodes terminal node Transmission media Coaxial cable Free-space optical Optical fiber Radio waves Telephone lines Terrestrial microwave Switching Circuit switching Packet switching Telephone exchange Network switch Multiplexing space-division multiplexing Frequency-division multiplexing Time-division multiplexing Polarization-division multiplexing Orbital angular momentum multiplexing Code division multiplexing Networks ARPANET BITNET Ethernet FidoNet Internet ISDN LAN Mobile NGN Public Switched Telephone Radio Telecommunications equipment Television Telex WAN Wireless World Wide Web Geographic v t e Telecommunications in Africa Sovereign states Algeria Angola Benin Botswana Burkina Faso Burundi Cameroon Cape Verde Central African Republic Chad Comoros Democratic Republic of the Congo Republic of the Congo Djibouti Egypt Equatorial Guinea Eritrea Ethiopia Gabon The Gambia Ghana Guinea Guinea-Bissau Ivory Coast (Côte d'Ivoire) Kenya Lesotho Liberia Libya Madagascar Malawi Mali Mauritania Mauritius Morocco Mozambique Namibia Niger Nigeria Rwanda São Tomé and Príncipe Senegal Seychelles Sierra Leone Somalia South Africa South Sudan Sudan Swaziland Tanzania Togo Tunisia Uganda Zambia Zimbabwe States with limited recognition Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic Somaliland Dependencies and other territories Canary Islands / Ceuta / Melilla / Plazas de soberanía (Spain) Madeira (Portugal) Mayotte / Réunion (France) Saint Helena / Ascension Island / Tristan da Cunha (United Kingdom) Western Sahara v t e Telecommunications in Asia Sovereign states Afghanistan Armenia Azerbaijan Bahrain Bangladesh Bhutan Brunei Burma (Myanmar) Cambodia People's Republic of China Cyprus East Timor (Timor-Leste) Egypt Georgia India Indonesia Iran Iraq Israel Japan Jordan Kazakhstan North Korea South Korea Kuwait Kyrgyzstan Laos Lebanon Malaysia Maldives Mongolia Nepal Oman Pakistan Philippines Qatar Russia Saudi Arabia Singapore Sri Lanka Syria Tajikistan Thailand Turkey Turkmenistan United Arab Emirates Uzbekistan Vietnam Yemen States with limited recognition Abkhazia Nagorno-Karabakh Northern Cyprus Palestine South Ossetia Taiwan Dependencies and other territories British Indian Ocean Territory Christmas Island Cocos (Keeling) Islands Hong Kong Macau v t e Telecommunications in Europe Sovereign states Albania Andorra Armenia Austria Azerbaijan Belarus Belgium Bosnia and Herzegovina Bulgaria Croatia Cyprus Czech Republic Denmark Estonia Finland France Georgia Germany Greece Hungary Iceland Ireland Italy Kazakhstan Latvia Liechtenstein Lithuania Luxembourg Macedonia Malta Moldova Monaco Montenegro Netherlands Norway Poland Portugal Romania Russia San Marino Serbia Slovakia Slovenia Spain Sweden Switzerland Turkey Ukraine United Kingdom States with limited recognition Abkhazia Kosovo Nagorno-Karabakh Northern Cyprus South Ossetia Transnistria Dependencies and other territories Åland Faroe Islands Gibraltar Guernsey Jersey Isle of Man Svalbard Other entities European Union v t e Telecommunications in North America Sovereign states Antigua and Barbuda Bahamas Barbados Belize Canada Costa Rica Cuba Dominica Dominican Republic El Salvador Grenada Guatemala Haiti Honduras Jamaica Mexico Nicaragua Panama Saint Kitts and Nevis Saint Lucia Saint Vincent and the Grenadines Trinidad and Tobago United States Dependencies and other territories Anguilla Aruba Bermuda Bonaire British Virgin Islands Cayman Islands Curaçao Greenland Guadeloupe Martinique Montserrat Navassa Island Puerto Rico Saint Barthélemy Saint Martin Saint Pierre and Miquelon Saba Sint Eustatius Sint Maarten Turks and Caicos Islands United States Virgin Islands v t e Telecommunications in Oceania Sovereign states Australia East Timor (Timor-Leste) Fiji Indonesia Kiribati Marshall Islands Federated States of Micronesia Nauru New Zealand Palau Papua New Guinea Samoa Solomon Islands Tonga Tuvalu Vanuatu Dependencies and other territories American Samoa Christmas Island Cocos (Keeling) Islands Cook Islands Easter Island French Polynesia Guam Hawaii New Caledonia Niue Norfolk Island Northern Mariana Islands Pitcairn Islands Tokelau Wallis and Futuna v t e Telecommunications in South America Sovereign states Argentina Bolivia Brazil Chile Colombia Ecuador Guyana Paraguay Peru Suriname Trinidad and Tobago Uruguay Venezuela Dependencies and other territories Aruba Bonaire Curaçao Falkland Islands French Guiana South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands