Telephone system general assessment: by opening the telecommunications market to competition and foreign investment with the "Telecommunications Liberalization Plan of 1998",
Argentina encouraged the growth of modern telecommunication technology; fiber-optic cable trunk lines are being installed between all major cities. The major networks are entirely digital and the
availability of telephone service is being improved; however, telephone density is presently minimal, and making telephone service universally available will take some time. Domestic microwave radio
relay, fiber-optic cable, and a domestic satellite system with 40 earth stations serve the trunk network; more than 110,000 pay telephones are installed and mobile telephone use is rapidly expanding
international: satellite earth stations - 8 Intelsat (Atlantic Ocean); Atlantis II and Unisur submarine cables; two international gateways near Buenos Aires (1999).