Telecommunication in Iraq
Compared to the European Union, Iraq is massively lagging behind in the development of telecommunications. Under the country code +964, there were a total of 41.11 m connections in 2020. Among them were 36.95 m million mobile phones, which corresponds to an average of 0.92 per person. In the EU, this figure is 1.2 mobile phones per person.In the expansion of broadband Internet connections, Iraq is back. Around 49% of all residents have access to the Internet. Approximately 14% have their own fast Internet connection, which is at least faster than the previous ISDN (more than 2048 kbit/s).
With about 26 webhosts, Iraq is below the world's average by population.
Back to overview: Iraq
Development of telephone and internet connections
With an average download speed of 31.06 Mbit/second for fixed-network broadband internet, Iraq ranked 109th in an international comparison. The upload rate was only 28.01 Mbit/second (71st place). The quality of the Internet, consisting of signal fluctuations (jitter) and latency, is very far ahead at 20th place.In mobile internet, i.e. on tablets and smartphones, Iraq comes 65th with a download speed of 36.85 Mbit/second. The upload speed of around 17 Mbit was only enough for 26th place.
The "Speedtest Global Index" published regularly by Ookla is based on several million individual measurements in Mai 2021 from 180 countries.
The following diagrams show the development of the various telephone and Internet connections as a percentage of the country's population. Values above 100% mean that, on average, every inhabitant has more than one connection.
Access to the Internet in Iraq from 1990 - 2019
Broadband internet in Iraq 2006 - 2020
Landlines 1990 - 2020
Mobile phones 1990 - 2020
| Distribution in 2020 | Iraq Total | Iraq percent | EU Total | EU percent |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Broadband users | 5.45 m | 13.56 % | 162.67 m | 36.33 % |
| Landlines | 4.17 m | 10.36 % | 159.99 m | 35.73 % |
| Mobile cellulars | 36.95 m | 91.86 % | 541.96 m | 121.03 % |