By Dmitry Titov: The sphere’s prospects were discussed today by representatives of the Communications and Information Ministry, as well as the leading telecommunications provider Beltelecom.
This year is marked by the transition to digital television. Belarus is one of the first countries in the CIS to have almost completed all the necessary works in this direction.
Over the five years, the Internet audience in Belarus has increased by 2 million people. Currently, the ratio of female to male Internet users is about 52% to 48%. About 80% of Belarusian users, which is about 4 million people, access the Internet on a daily basis. According to sociologists, there has been an increase in the number of Internet users in industrial cities and rural areas.
The “домен.бел” website launched today allows using the Cyrillic alphabet in a browser’s command line. This site explains how to register a domain in the Belarusian zone. The registration process consists of several stages. State-owned companies will be the first to acquire Belarusian web addresses. Premium domains will be put on auction.
Later this year will see the introduction of LTE, a 4G wireless broadband technology.
More than half of the country's mobile communication subscribers use the 3G internet. The total number of subscribers exceeds 5 million people.
The quality of communication is planned to be improved at the M1 and M2 motorways, with hotspots to be set up near agricultural farmsteads.
The share of wireless data transmission technology subscribers makes up 67% of the total number of registered Internet users. Experts believe that the development of the global network in Belarus depends on the quality of services provided.
According to the International Telecommunication Union, as of last year the number of Internet users in Belarus exceeded half of the population. Significant changes occurred in the age structure of the Internet audience. For example, the proportion of pensioners among Internet users increased from 1.5% to 6% of the total number of users.
