MINSK, 17 May (BelTA) – There are over 11.6 million cellular communication subscribers in Belarus, the Belarusian Communications and Informatization Ministry told BelTA.
According to the source, cellular communication industry grows all the time in Belarus. The number of cellular communication subscribers is always on the rise and reached 11.67 million as of 1 April 2021. The penetration rate of 125% matches international trends. As many as 64% of the subscribers use Internet access.
Second-generation (2G) and third-generation (3G) cellular communication services are available to 99.9% of the population on more than 98% of the country's territory. LTE coverage grows all the time and reached 92% of the population and 42.8% of the country's territory as of 1 April 2021.
The number of public Wi-Fi broadband Internet access points is close to 1.2 million. The consumption of telecommunication services rises as a result. In 2020 alone Belarusians used 4,855.5 petabytes of data while the aggregate bandwidth of the country's external Internet channels increased by 382 Gbps to 1,933 Gbps.
Belarus was the first CIS country to switch to digital aerial television back in 2015. At present digital aerial television is available to 99.5% of the country's population. The number of aerial digital television subscribers exceeds 171,000.
The current level of development of telecommunications in Belarus allows virtually fully satisfying growing information needs of citizens, the private sector, and the state. It enables conditions conducive to further digitization of the country and to the provision of digital services all over Belarus.
According to the Communications and Informatization Ministry, the international community marks World Telecommunication and Information Society Day today. The International Telegraph Union was founded on 17 May 1865. It was later renamed into the International Telecommunication Union.
“All the workers of the Belarusian electric communication industry mark the importance of this date and their professional contribution to it. Belarus' accomplishments in the development of telecommunications, of which we all have the right to be proud, are the reason,” the Transport and Communications Ministry said.
