- mobile cellular:2,394,400 (2003)
Telephone system:
general assessment: generally elementary but being expanded
domestic: facilities generally inadequate and unreliable
international: country code - 593; satellite earth station - 1
Intelsat (Atlantic Ocean)
Radio broadcast stations:
AM 392, FM 35, shortwave 29 (2001)
Radios:
5 million (2001)
Television broadcast stations:
7 (plus 14 repeaters) (2001)
Televisions:
2.5 million (2001)
Internet country code:
.ec
Internet hosts:
3,188 (2003)
Internet Service Providers (ISPs):
31 (2001)
Internet users:
569,700 (2003)
Transportation Ecuador
Railways: total: 966 km narrow gauge: 966 km 1.067-m gauge (2004)
Highways: total: 43,197 km paved: 8,164 km unpaved: 35,033 km (2002)
Waterways:
1,500 km (most inaccessible) (2003)
Pipelines:
extra heavy crude 578 km; gas 71 km; oil 1,386 km; refined products
1,185 km (2004)
Ports and harbors:
Esmeraldas, Guayaquil, La Libertad, Manta, Puerto Bolivar
Merchant marine:
total: 31 ships (1,000 GRT or over) 241,403 GRT/391,898 DWT
by type: chemical tanker 2, liquefied gas 1, passenger 8, petroleum
tanker 20
foreign-owned: 3 (Germany 1, Greece 1, Paraguay 1) (2005)
Airports:
205 (2004 est.)
Airports - with paved runways: total: 62 over 3,047 m: 3 2,438 to 3,047 m: 4 1,524 to 2,437 m: 18 914 to 1,523 m: 19 under 914 m: 18 (2004 est.)
Airports - with unpaved runways: total: 143 914 to 1,523 m: 30 under 914 m: 113 (2004 est.)
Heliports: 1 (2004 est.)
Military Ecuador
Military branches:
Army, Navy (includes Naval Infantry, Naval Aviation, Coast Guard),
Air Force (Fuerza Aerea Ecuatoriana, FAE)
Military service age and obligation:
20 years of age for conscript military service; 12-month service
obligation (2004)
Manpower available for military service:
males age 20–49: 2,792,770 (2005 est.)
Manpower fit for military service:
males age 20–49: 2,338,428 (2005 est.)
Manpower reaching military service age annually:
males: 133,922 (2005 est.)
Military expenditures - dollar figure:
$655 million (2004)
Military expenditures - percent of GDP:
2.2% (2004)
Transnational Issues Ecuador
Disputes - international:
organized illegal narcotics operations in Colombia penetrate across
Ecuador's shared border and caused over 20,000 refugees to flee into
Ecuador in 2004
Illicit drugs:
significant transit country for cocaine originating in Colombia and
Peru; importer of precursor chemicals used in production of illicit
narcotics; attractive location for cash-placement by drug
traffickers laundering money because of dollarization and weak
anti-money-laundering regime, especially vulnerable along the border
with Colombia; increased activity on the northern frontier by
trafficking groups and Colombian insurgents
This page was last updated on 20 October, 2005
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@Egypt
Introduction Egypt
Background:
The regularity and richness of the annual Nile River flood, coupled
with semi-isolation provided by deserts to the east and west,
allowed for the development of one of the world's great
civilizations. A unified kingdom arose circa 3200 B.C. and a series
of dynasties ruled in Egypt for the next three millennia. The last
native dynasty fell to the Persians in 341 B.C., who in turn were
replaced by the Greeks, Romans, and Byzantines. It was the Arabs who
introduced Islam and the Arabic language in the 7th century and who
ruled for the next six centuries. A local military caste, the
Mamluks took control about 1250 and continued to govern after the
conquest of Egypt by the Ottoman Turks in 1517. Following the
completion of the Suez Canal in 1869, Egypt became an important
world transportation hub, but also fell heavily into debt.
Ostensibly to protect its investments,
