Telecommunications in Syria

All other forms of fixed-line communications are provided by the state-owned operator, Syrian Telecom (STE).

[3] Roughly two-thirds of Syrian homes have a satellite dish providing access to foreign TV broadcasts.

[6] Syria ranks 13th out of 14 countries in the Middle East region, just behind Iraq (59.6%) and ahead of Yemen (25.9%).

In addition to filtering a wide range of Web content, the Syrian government monitors Internet use very closely and has detained citizens "for expressing their opinions or reporting information online."

Vague and broadly worded laws invite government abuse and have prompted Internet users to engage in self-censoring and self-monitoring to avoid the state's ambiguous grounds for arrest.

[19] Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) is blocked completely and requires a proxy or Virtual Private Network (VPN) to work around it.

[20] However, VoIP operators that utilize non-standard Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) ports may function behind Syria's proxy.

[21] However, more restrictions have been placed on internet cafes, all public internet centers need operating approval from the security services, are required to keep detailed records of their customers' surfing habits, and people have been arrested after accessing blocked content.

[22] In 2012, it was reported that all Internet connectivity between Syria and the outside world appeared to have ceased, as of 29 November 2012.

[24] However, according to an August 2014 interview with Edward Snowden, the Internet blackout in Syria was related to a failed attempt by the U.S. National Security Agency (NSA) to infiltrate malware on a core router of one of the country's main Internet Service Providers (ISPs).