Communication and Internet

Effective communication is a vital part of every country's infrastructure. It is essential to draw people to the country for trade and development. Tourists make extensive use of communications and internet access in Algeria when planning their vacations and to keep in contact with people back home. As with most developing countries, Algeria's communications systems are somewhat underdeveloped, but continuous efforts are being made to improve the situation and provide greater access to telephones, the internet and so on. Visitors to Algeria will certainly have every opportunity to communicate with family and friends back home.

Telephones

Algeria’s telephone density is quite low with certain statistics placing the numbers at five telephones for every 100 persons. Main telephone lines in use as of 2004 were 2.288 million. The best telephone service is found in the north of Algeria which is the main tourist region. Algeria has a domestic satellite system making use of 12 earth stations, with more soon to be established. Five submarine cables as well as satellite earth stations provide international telephone communication. Microwave radio is used to connect to Italy, Morocco, Tunisia, Spain and France. Mobile cellular phone users amounted to 5 million in 2005. Roaming is available in Algeria but coverage exists mostly in the larger towns. Read more about Cellular phones in Algeria on Algeria.com’s “Algeria SMS” page. Algeria’s country dialing code is +213.

Postal System

You can post letters and packages from any of the post offices in Algeria’s major cities on the coast. Post takes about four days to arrive in Europe and can take longer to other destinations. Hours of operation for the post offices are: Monday to Saturady from 08:00 to 17:00; with Thursdays hours being from 08:00 to 12:00. Algiers’ main post office is however open for 24 hours a day.

Internet Access

Algeria’s main cities benefit from a relatively good telecommunications network and have satisfactory local internet access. As of 2005 there were some 1,175 internet hosts in Algeria and 845,000 users. Internet cafes can be found in Algiers, Oran and Constantine. At such venues you can surf the internet, check your email, print documents and perform other tasks. Internet access is also provided at some of the luxury hotels in Algeria. Whilst Arabic is the main language of Algeria, most of the country’s websites can be viewed in English or French. Algeria’s Internet country code is .dz. Algeria’s internet access continues to increase as it is being developed in the country, so future visitors can look forward to improved internet services.

Mass Media

Mass Media is an important form of communication as it reaches large numbers of the population, providing them with up-to-date information and news. For more information on mass media in Algeria check out the following pages on Algeria.com – Algeria TV; Algeria Radio; Newspapers.

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