Senegal - Media

Telephone and telegraph services, publicly owned and operated, are good by African standards, particularly in the coastal area and in the main centers of peanut production. In 2001 there were 234,916 mainline telephones and 373,965 cellular phones in use. French submarine cables connect Dakar with Paris, Casablanca, Conakry (Guinea), and Recife (Brazil), and radiotelephone facilities are also in operation. The postal system provides international telephone facilities.

The government-operated radio and television service has transmitters throughout the country. The two national radio networks based in Dakar broadcast mostly in French, while the regional stations in Rufisque, Saint-Louis, Tambacounda, Kaolack, and Ziguinchor, which originate their own programs, broadcast primarily in six local languages. Transmission of educational television programs began in 1973. As of 1999 there were eight AM and six FM radio stations and one television station. In 2000, there were about 141 radios and 40 television sets for every 1,000 people. In 2001, there were about 10 Internet service providers serving 40,000 subscribers.

The constitution guarantees freedom of opinion, which the press is generally free to exercise. There were two daily newspapers in 2002: Le Soleil du Sénégal, the PS party newspaper, with an estimated 45,000 circulation, and Sud Quotidien (30,000).