Comoros - Infrastructure, power, and communications

Comoros has poorly developed infrastructure . The transport system is particularly limited. In 1996, it was estimated that there was a total of 880 kilometers (547 miles) of highways, 673 kilometers (418 miles) of which were paved. There are no railways. Prince Said Ibrahim Airport is the international air terminus near Moroni. In 1996, it handled 92,000 passengers.

There were 75,000 telephone main lines in 1997 and 100 fax machines in 1995. There were 36 post offices in 1993. Comoros does not have any local newspapers; the few that are read are circulated from Madagascar. The U.S. State Department noted that there were about 5 independent local television stations in 1998. The CIA World Factbook estimated that the country only had 1,000 televisions in 1997. There were 90,000 radios in the country by 1997, with 1 government-run station, Radio Comoros; an opposition station, Tropique; and about 20 other regional stations. The government introduced Internet service in 1998 and there were 800 Internet users by 2000.

In 1981, Comoros had 236 primary schools, 1 teacher training college, and 2 technical schools. In 1998, there were no universities, and the public schools on Grand Comore were closed for most of the year because of civil unrest.

Work began in 1985 on a 4,500-kilowatt hydroelectric dam on Anjouan. In 1998, 15 million kilowatt hours (kWh) were generated. Fossil fuels currently generate 87 percent of electricity, with the remaining 13 percent provided by hydroelectricity.

Communications
Country	Telephones a	Telephones, Mobile/Cellular a	Radio Stations b	Radios a	TV Stations a	Televisions a	Internet Service Providers c	Internet Users c
Comoros	6,000	N/A	AM 1; FM 2; shortwave 1	90,000	0 (1998)	1,000	1	800
United States	194 M	69.209 M (1998)	AM 4,762; FM 5,542; shortwave 18	575 M	1,500	219 M	7,800	148 M
South Africa	5.075 M (1999)	2 M (1999)	AM 14; FM 347; shortwave 1	13.75 M	556	5.2 M	44	1.82 M
Mauritius	223,000	37,000	AM 5; FM 9; shortwave 2	420,000	2	258,000	2	55,000
a Data is for 1997 unless otherwise noted.
b Data is for 1998 unless otherwise noted.
c Data is for 2000 unless otherwise noted.
SOURCE : CIA World Factbook 2001 [Online].