system:

general assessment: service to general public is poor but improving;
the government relies on a radiotelephone network to communicate
with remote areas
domestic: multiple service providers; mobile cellular usage growing
rapidly; combined fixed-line and mobile-cellular subscribership
about 25 per 100 persons
international: country code - 856; satellite earth station - 1
Intersputnik (Indian Ocean region) (2007)

Radio broadcast stations:

AM 7, FM 14, shortwave 2 (2006)

Radios:

730,000 (1997)

Television broadcast stations:

7 (includes 1 station relaying Vietnam Television from Hanoi) (2006)

Televisions:

52,000 (1997)

Internet country code:

.la

Internet hosts:

1,015 (2008)

Internet Service Providers (ISPs):

1 (2000)

Internet users:

100,000 (2007)

Transportation
Laos

Airports:

42 (2007)

Airports - with paved runways:

total: 9
2,438 to 3,047 m: 2
1,524 to 2,437 m: 4
914 to 1,523 m: 3 (2007)

Airports - with unpaved runways:

total: 33
1,524 to 2,437 m: 1
914 to 1,523 m: 9
under 914 m: 23 (2007)

Pipelines:

refined products 540 km (2007)

Roadways:

total: 29,811 km
paved: 4,010 km
unpaved: 25,801 km (2006)

Waterways:

4,600 km
note: primarily Mekong and tributaries; 2,900 additional km are
intermittently navigable by craft drawing less than 0.5 m (2007)

Merchant marine:

total: 1 ship (1000 GRT or over) 2,370 GRT/3,110 DWT
by type: cargo 1 (2008)

Military
Laos

Military branches:

Lao People's Armed Forces (LPAF): Lao People's Army (LPA; includes
Riverine Force), Air Force (2008)

Military service age and obligation:

15 years of age for compulsory military service; minimum 18-month
conscript service obligation (2006)

Manpower available for military service:

males age 16-49: 1,549,774
females age 16-49: 1,570,702 (2008 est.)

Manpower fit for military service:

males age 16-49: 993,162
females age 16-49: 1,052,053 (2008 est.)

Manpower reaching militarily significant age annually:

male: 73,973
female: 72,758 (2008 est.)

Military expenditures:

0.5% of GDP (2006)

Military - note:

serving one of the world's least developed countries, the Lao
People's Armed Forces (LPAF) is small, poorly funded, and
ineffectively resourced; its mission focus is border and internal
security, primarily in countering ethnic Hmong insurgent groups;
together with the Lao Peop