excellent
domestic: new telephone exchanges provide a large capacity for new
subscribers; trunk traffic is carried by microwave radio relay,
coaxial cable, open wire and fiber-optic cable; a cellular telephone
system operates throughout Kuwait, and the country is well supplied
with pay telephones; approximately 15,000 Internet subscribers in 1996
international: coaxial cable and microwave radio relay to Saudi
Arabia; linked to Bahrain, Qatar, UAE via the Fiber-Optic Gulf (FOG)
cable; satellite earth stations - 3 Intelsat (1 Atlantic Ocean, 2
Indian Ocean), 1 Inmarsat (Atlantic Ocean), and 2 Arabsat

Radio broadcast stations: AM 6, FM 11, shortwave 1 (1998)

Radios: 1.175 million (1997)

Television broadcast stations: 13 (plus several satellite channels)
(1997)

Televisions: 875,000 (1997)

Internet Service Providers (ISPs): 2 (1999)

@Kuwait:Transportation

Railways: 0 km

Highways:
total: 4,450 km
paved: 3,590 km
unpaved: 860 km (1999 est.)

Pipelines: crude oil 877 km; petroleum products 40 km; natural gas 165
km

Ports and harbors: Ash Shu'aybah, Ash Shuwaykh, Kuwait, Mina' 'Abd
Allah, Mina' al Ahmadi, Mina' Su'ud

Merchant marine:
total: 48 ships (1,000 GRT or over) totaling 2,506,448 GRT/4,040,921
DWT
ships by type: bulk 1, cargo 9, container 6, liquified gas 7,
livestock carrier 4, petroleum tanker 21 (1999 est.)

Airports: 7 (1999 est.)

Airports - with paved runways:
total: 4
over 3,047 m: 2
2,438 to 3,047 m: 2 (1999 est.)

Airports - with unpaved runways:
total: 3
1,524 to 2,437 m: 1
914 to 1,523 m: 1
under 914 m: 1 (1999 est.)

Heliports: 2 (1999 est.)

@Kuwait:Military

Military branches: Army, Navy, Air Force, National Police Force,
National Guard, Coast Guard

Military manpower - military age: 18 years of age

Military manpower - availability:
males age 15-49: 749,252 (2000 est.)

Military manpower - fit for military service:
males age 15-49: 446,518 (2000 est.)

Military manpower - reaching military age annually:
males: 17,919 (2000 est.)

Military expenditures - dollar figure: $2.518 billion (FY99/00)

Military expenditures - percent of GDP: 8% (FY99/00)

@Kuwait:Transnational Issues

Disputes - international: in November 1994, Iraq formally accepted the
UN-demarcated border with Kuwait which had been spelled out in
Security Council Resolutions 687 (1991), 773 (1993), and 883 (1993);
this formally ends earlier claims to Kuwait and to Bubiyan and Warbah
islan