The postal, telephone, telegraph, radio, and television services are government operated. Telephone and telegraph services connect most towns, and cable service is available to France, Spain, and Gibraltar. In 1998 there were an estimated 1.3 million mainline telephones and about 116,645 cellular phones in use. Radiodiffusion Television Marocaine presents programs in Arabic, in Berber dialects, and in English, French, and Spanish. The television service, with studios in Casablanca and Rabat, presents daily programs in Arabic and French. A private television station, 2M International, began broadcasting in French and Arabic in 1989. As of 1999 there were 22 AM and 7 FM radio stations and 26 television stations. In 2000, there were about 243 radios and 166 television sets for every 1,000 people. There were about eight Internet service providers serving 220,000 people in 2001.
The country's main press agency, Maghreb Arab Press, is owned by the government. It published the daily Arabic newspaper, Al-Anba'a ( Information ), which had a 2002 circulation of about 15,000. Other leading daily newspapers published in Rabat (as of 2002) include the Arabic-language Al Alam ( The Flag , circulation 100,000) and the French-language L'Opinion (60,000). The French-language Le Matin du Sahara (100,000) and Maroc Soir (50,000) are published in Casablanca. Al Ittahid Al Ichtiraki ( Socialist Unity , 110,000) is a daily Arabic newspaper also published in Casablanca.
Press freedom is guaranteed by the constitution, and censorship of domestic publications was lifted in 1977, but criticism of Islam, the King, the monarchical system, or Morocco's claim to the Western Sahara is not permitted.