|
Nicaragua Telecommunications
Nicaragua's telecommunications system, like the rest of
its
infrastructure, is outdated and suffers from lack of
maintenance.
The backbone of the telecommunications system is the
Central
American Microwave System (CAMS), a 960-channel
radio-relay
system that extends from Mexico to Panama. Low-capacity
radiorelay and wire lines branch off the CAMS to provide
service to
smaller towns. In 1993 there were approximately 60,000
telephones, only 1.5 per 100 inhabitants. Although the
number of
telephones increased by about 10 percent per year during
the
1970s, that increased number did not begin to meet demand.
Few
telephones have been installed since 1979.
When the CAMS was installed in the 1970s, planners
envisioned
that all international telecommunications would travel
along the
CAMS to satellite ground stations in Guatemala and Panama.
However, planners of the system failed to take political
realities into account. Whenever disputes arose among the
countries of Central America, a common tactic was for one
government to shut down the CAMS "for maintenance,"
effectively
isolating the other four countries on the isthmus from the
outside world. Each country in Central America then built
its own
satellite ground station in the 1980s to assure continuous
communications. In 1993 Nicaragua had two satellite ground
stations, one operating with the International
Telecommunications
Satellite Corporation's (Intelsat) Atlantic Ocean
satellite and
the other a part of the former Soviet Union's Intersputnik
system.
Radio broadcast services reach all parts of the country
and
include forty-five mostly privately owned amplitude
modulation
(AM) medium-wave stations and three AM shortwave stations
for
broadcasts to remote areas in the Caribbean lowlands.
Managua
also has eleven frequency modulation (FM) radio stations.
Eight
towns have television stations. In 1993 there were
approximately
880,000 radio receivers and 210,000 television sets.
Data as of December 1993
|
