Telecommunication

The rapid development of telecommunications with the digital technologies of signal processing and transmission adoption has made it possible to transfer television broadcasting to a new, higher quality level - digital television broadcasting.

Many modifications of digital television broadcasting have been widely adopted in the republic: terrestrial, cable, mobile, satellite, IP-television.

Digital television has many advantages over analog.

In the context of international cooperation, at the Regional Radiocommunication Conference for planning of the digital terrestrial broadcasting service in the frequency bands 174-230 MHz and 470-862 MHz (RRC-06), held in Geneva in 2006, a decision was made on the full transition to digital television broadcasting on June 17, 2015.

On June 17, 2015, the country completely finished the necessary measures to turn off all analog television transmitters covered by the Geneva-2006 agreement.

Therefore, the Republic of Belarus, together with a number of other countries, timely and in full performed its international obligations regarding the broadcasting of television programs in analog format.

As of 01.01.2020, digital television is available for viewing by 99.47% of the population of the republic.

Mobile cellular telecommunication services in the republic are provided by the following operators:

  • Unitary Enterprise “A1”;
  • Joint Limited Liability Company “Mobile TeleSystems”;
  • Closed Joint Stock Company “Belarusian Telecommunications Network”;
  • Joint Limited Liability Company “Belarusian Cloud Technologies”

The total number of mobile telecommunication subscribers in the republic has reached 11.63 million. The penetration rate of cellular communications in the republic amounted to 123.6 subscribers per 100 residents of the republic.

Cellular mobile telecommunication covers 98.7 percent of the territory of the republic, with 99.9 percent of the population.

Starting February 1, 2012, the number portability service was introduced - providing an opportunity for a subscriber serviced by one of the cellular mobile telecommunication operators to save their subscriber number when switching to another operator.

In accordance with the Investment Agreement on the implementation of the investment project “Creation and Operation of Information and Communication Technologies for Data Processing”, Belarusian Cloud Technologies JLLC (beCloud trademark), as an infrastructure operator, in December 2015, launched a cellular mobile telecommunication network using technology LTE.

As of January 1, 2020, 76% percent of the population of the republic can use LTE standard mobile cellular telecommunication services.

At the beginning of 2020, 135 companies had a special permit (license) of the Ministry of Communications and Informatization of the Republic of Belarus for activities in the field of communications (with the right to provide data services). A complete list of legal entities and individual entrepreneurs with a special permit (license) of the Ministry of Communications and Informatization can be obtained here.

At present, a developed network of intercity trunk lines along the “ring” structure using fiber-optic cable and equipment of a synchronous digital hierarchy with access to all neighboring states (Poland, Lithuania, Latvia, Russia) is built in the republic. Fiber-optic communication lines (hereinafter - FOCL) are organized according to three routes to all regional centers of the republic, and two routes to all regional centers. Taking into account the increasing demand for communication channels, the telecommunication operator - RUE Beltelecom - annually increases the capacity of the primary backbone network. Work is being carried out in the republic on laying fiber-optic lines to rural telephone exchanges. In all the settlements to which fiber optic lines are laid, nodes of access to the data transmission network are installed to provide modern services (broadband access to the Internet, IP-television).

More than 4.45 million telephones have been installed in cities and rural areas. In recent years, in the republic the problem of eliminating the queue for installing a telephone has been resolved. Applications for installing the phone are satisfied within a period not exceeding a year from the moment of their submission.

The density of telephone sets per 100 people as of January 1, 2020 was 47.3.

In the Republic of Belarus, the service of access to local telephone communications is universal, the provision of which the state guarantees to all users in the Republic of Belarus at affordable rates.

Today, fixed broadband Internet access services are one of the fastest growing services. The total number of subscribers and users with Internet access using stationary broadband access technologies at the beginning of 2020 amounted to 3.21 million.

In November 2017, the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) presented another report “Measuring the Information Society”. According to the results of 2017, Belarus was ranked 32nd of the ICT Development Index.

The priorities of the industry for 2016-2020 will be increasing ICT sector share in GDP, increase in domestic demand for information technologies especially on the part of the public sector; the development of the information and communication infrastructure, with the help of cloud technologies, the creation on its basis of new electronic services; the implementation of ICT in the real sector of economy, social sphere, including the informatization of public health services, education, and housing and communal services.