Equatorial Guinea - Infrastructure, power, and communications

Fueled by both the revenues from natural resources and the increased demands for power, roads, and harbors to continue the production of natural resources, the country has made large improvements in the vastly underdeveloped infrastructure . This includes upgrading the port at Luba, the airport at Malabo, and many roads linking major cities. The telecommunications revolution has

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
Equatorial Guinea	4,000 (1996)	N/A	AM 0; FM 2; shortwave 4	180,000	1	4,000	1	500
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
Nigeria	500,000 (2000)	26,700	AM 82; FM 35; shortwave 11	23.5 M	2 (1999)	6.9 M	11	100,000
Cameroon	75,000	4,200	AM 11; FM 8; shortwave 3	2.27M	1 (1998)	450,000	1	20,000
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].

slowly been introduced with a new digital network, public phone booths, a cellular system, and even some limited Internet access.

Most of the country's power is generated by a number of oil-fired power plants and a few large dams. The country's power generation capacity will be doubled when a new gas-fired power plant is completed on Bioko. The gas for this power station will be supplied domestically.

These investments in infrastructure have helped increase the attractiveness of the country to foreign investors and have a positive impact on economic development. Unfortunately, the prior political regime left the country's infrastructure in a horrible state. Even with these vast improvements, the lack of developed infrastructure is still a major hindrance to economic development. The country currently has no rail system, few paved roads, and an inefficient communications system. Especially troubling is the lack of physical infrastructure in rural areas.