Telecommunications in Radictistan
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Telecommunications in Radictistan includes telephone, internet, radio, and television. The communications infrastructure in Radictistan is highly developed, particularly for a developing country, with an extensive network of optical fiber lines and microwave radio relays. Most telecommunications infrastructure is publicly owned.
Telephone system
Radictistani telephone numbers contain seven digits dialed after an area code of three digits. The country calling code for Radictistan is +12.
Infrastructure
Most households in Radictistan own one or more fixed-line telephones. All traditional fixed-line telephony in Radictistan is provided under a statutory monopoly by the state-owned company Royal Radictistan Telecom. RRT also operates the public telephone network and has a universal service obligation. Long-distance trunk lines of the telephone network are comprised mostly of microwave relays although some densely populated areas in the western Counties of Erdwoodsur and Westwoodsur now boast long-distance optical fiber lines for voice and data use. There is a submarine cable linking the Radictistani mainland with the island of Ailand Vakka with a capacity of 640 Gbit/s. All telecommunications trunks are digital. Many local loop systems are still analog including most outside large cities. The number of fixed telephone connections in Radictistan totals 114 million, one for every 4.6 persons.
International telephony is facilitated by a series of satellite earth stations and submarine cables linking Radictistan to other parts of Apathia.
Mobile phone networks
Radictistan has a well developed system of mobile phone infrastructure using the GSM and UMTS 3G standards. LTE service is available in some larger cities. There are four major mobile phone networks in Radictistan: Kazdan Mobile, LuftFon, NuWelle, and Jagoda Wireless. In addition to the "Big Four" networks there are three smaller regional operators which lease their bandwidth from larger carriers: Hartfer-based Meine, Barking-based Reiger Wireless, and Ruzak-based Sprach Mobile. Most Radictistani mobile telephone networks operate within the 900 MHz, 1800 MHz, and 2100 MHz frequency bands. There are about 394 million mobile telephone subscribers in Radictistan.
Internet
The country-code top-level domain for Radictistan is .rd. Radictistan is home to a large number of internet users; about forty percent of the population has access to the internet at home. In total there are about 298 million active subscriptions including those exclusively using mobile devices. The majority of internet subscribers connect over the telephone network, either by a dial-up connection or through digital subscriber line technology. Royal Radictistan Telecom is required by law to allow internet service providers access to its infrastructure in order to provide internet connectivity. Consumers generally have a choice of more than one provider when the local telephone infrastructure supports broadband internet. Cable modems are the second most common means of connection. Cable internet is most common in the western half of the country. Optical fiber connections are becoming available in large urban centers such as Nuxenstat, Hartfer, and Brightburg.
Twenty-three companies provide broadband internet access in Radictistan. Broadband internet access is available in all major cities and almost universally along the wealthy and densely populated western coast. Availability in rural areas is still extremely limited except by expensive and high-latency satellite or terrestrial microwave links. Dial-up internet access remains a commonly used mode of access. Internet cafės are commonly used by persons with no or low-bandwidth home intneret connections.
There are two internet exchange points in Radictistan located in Nuxenstat and Hartfer. Major Radictistani universities and laboratories are connected by ultra high-speed optical fiber links through the Radictistan Research and Education Network (RadRENT).
Radio and television broadcasting
Radio
Radio broadcast stations: 2,713
Most radio broadcasting in Radictistan occurs using the FM band at 87.5 through 108 MHz and on medium wave at 531 through 1611 kHz. There are also two shortwave stations. The public RBS is the most widely received radio network. Most other stations are independently owned or belong to regional networks.
Television
Television broadcast stations: 745
Televisions: 108,000,000 (approximate)
About sixty-five million households in Radictistan own at least one television. The majority of Radictistani television-owning households rely on terrestrial broadcast of television signals. Television broadcasts are provided via both analog signals using the PAL standard and digitally using the DVB-T and DVB-T2 standards. A gradual phaseout of analog transmission is underway. The largest broadcast network is the national public broadcaster, the Radictistan Broadcasting Service. As is the case with radio there are no other national networks. Instead the television broadcast industry is centered around a number of regional networks such as Capital Media and R2. The RadSat satellite constellation allows foreign reception of some Radictistani free-to-air channels.